Bob MacIntyre not planning to copy 'absolute monster' Bryson DeChambeau

Bob Macintyre reacts after playing a shot in the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai last month. Picture: Francois Nel/Getty Images.

US Open champion DeChambeau revealed he’d recorded a ball speed of 211mph on the range in the PGA Tour’s Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii a fortnight ago.

It was down to around 193-94mph out on the golf course, but he is determined to keep pushing himself to new limits.

In the build up to the Masters in November, DeChambeau had also been toying with the idea of putting a 48-inch driver in his bag to get extra length at Augusta National before opting to go with a regular one.

“I’m miles back,” said MacIntyre, speaking as he prepared for this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the opening event of the new European Tour season, in reply to being asked about his ball speed. “I’ll be 175-180 mph.

“He (Bryson) is an absolute monster. He’s miles ahead of everyone. He is pushing the limit. When he was saying he was going to try the longer driver, everyone was trying it.

“I’ve not tried it yet as I feel my strengths are my driving accuracy. Unless something drastically changes in the game of golf, I’ll still be able to compete.”

As he sets out at the start of his third season as a European Tour card holder, MacIntyre revealed one of the steps he now takes after paying close attention to how some of the game’s top players go about their business.

“I’ve played a lot of practice rounds with the top guys and I like to study them, not their swings because that’s Davie’s job,” he said, referring to his coach, David Burns. “I’ve looked more at how they carry themselves and what they do on the course.

“ I used to play practice rounds with my phone in my back pocket and also on the range. Now I’ve stopped that. I’ve got quite a few messages from back home right now from my parents etc and I’ve not had time to look at them.

“When I’m on the course and the range, I am there to do work because that’s my job and, if that can help me get a little better and more focussed, it’s going to improve me by one percent, the phone has to go away.

“It’s been a variety of the more experienced guys like Graeme McDowell, Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry. There have been loads of them. They all do the same stuff and are more focussed than I was and I’ve started to do the same and it’s helped me.”

Helped by a breakthrough win in the Cyprus Showdown in November, MacIntyre’s career earnings on the European Tour already stand at £2.3 million.

He moved into a new house in his beloved Oban last year but laughed when he was asked if he’d treated himself to a Christmas gift last month.

“I sent a lot of it to the taxman,” he said of his 2020 earnings, “but, other than that I have not treated myself.

“I am trying to make that apartment more mine and change a few things in it. But, other than that, I will treat the family when everything opens up again to a holiday.”

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