Bob MacIntyre off to strong start in The Players as Ryder Cup team-mates struggle

It was a round that underlined just how much both Bob MacIntyre’s game and his attitude have improved immensely over the last 12 months.

The Oban man might have been there on merit when making his debut in The Players Championship a year ago, but he probably wasn’t quite ready to take on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in Florida.

After signing for rounds of 74 and 76 for a six-over-par total, MacIntyre missed the cut by seven shots in the PGA Tour’s flagship event at its headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach.

Bob MacIntyre chips onto the seventh green during the first round of The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida | AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson

His head wasn’t in the best of places at that particular time as he tried to adjust to life on the US circuit after being among the ten players to secure coveted cards through the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai at the end of the 2023 season.

It’s a totally different MacIntyre, though, who has returned to the same venue for this year’s $25 million tournament and that was evident in the opening circuit in the company of American Max Homa and Korean Sungjae Im.

The 28-year-old Scot started birdie-birdie, knocking in an eight-footer at the par-4 first then getting up and down from long range at the par-5 second.

Those shots were duly given back at the fourth and seventh and, 12 months ago, that sort of setback would have knocked the stuffing out of him, especially on one of the toughest tracks in the game.

Not now, though. Not after he proved he was good enough to win on the PGA Tour when landing the RBC Canadian Open last June. And not after he then followed that up by adding the Genesis Scottish Open a few weeks later.

In went in a four-footer at the tenth to get him back into red figures before making an important par save at the long 11th after being in two bunkers there. A great tee shot set up a birdie 2 at the 13th before then producing a sublime pitch from the left rough at the par-5 16th for a fourth birdie of the day.

After a solid par-par finish, the left-hander signed for a three-under 69, which vindicated why he’d felt about his game after finishing joint-11th in last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Orlando.

In his group, MacIntyre beat Im by seven shots and ended up ten strokes better than Homa, which, even allowing for the fact they may not have been at their best, was a good reflection of his day’s work.

It left him sitting three shots off lead after the former US Open champion, Lucas Glover, finished with a career-first four straight birdies before his 66 was matched later in the day by both fellow American J.J. Spaun and Colombian Camilo Villegas.

“I obviously got off to a perfect start and then wobbled a bit in the middle but I just had to compose myself and get back into hitting fairways and greens,” MacIntyre told Sky Sports Golf.

“I managed to do that on the back nine and give myself chances and took a few of them but left a few out there. But three under par round here is a good score no matter what day you are playing.”

A strong performance in this event would boost MacIntyre’s hopes of playing in the Ryder Cup in September, when Luke Donald’s European team will defend the trophy at Bethpage Black on Long Island in New York.

“Look, I dreamed of playing in a Ryder Cup and obviously played in the one in Rome, but, once you get in one, you never want to miss another one,” added the world No 18. “I want to be there as badly as ever, but there’s a lot of golf to be played.

“I feel my game is in as good a shape as it’s ever been, probably as mature as it has ever been. I think I am learning every week and the team around me are doing a good job keeping me on the right track. But, look, I am just looking forward to playing week to week.”

On a day when double defending champion Scottie Scheffler opened with the same score as MacIntyre, Aaron Rai, the 2021 Genesis Scottish Open champion, underlined his growing stature with an opening 68.

But, as their struggles continued, Ryder Cup team-mates Matthew Fitzpatrick and Viktor Hovland slumped to 78 and 80 respectively.