Bob MacIntyre aims to stay 'healthy' as Ryder Cup cut-off looms on horizon

Bob MacIntyre is hoping to stay “healthy” in the final few weeks of the Ryder Cup qualifying campaign after hanging on to an automatic spot in Luke Donald’s team after the 151st Open.

Ryder Cup contender Bob MacIntyre shakes hands with 2021 European captain Padraig Harrington after they played together in the final round of the 151st Open at Royal Liverpool on Sunday. Picture: Tom Russo/The Scotsman.

After backing up his second-place finish in the Genesis Scottish Open the previous week by making the cut in the final major of the season, the Oban man still occupies one of the coveted berths along with Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton and Tommy Fleetwood.

Austrian Sepp Straka boosted his hopes of being on the home team at Marco Simone Golf Club in September by finishing joint-second behind American Brian Harman at Hoylake, but his points are being accumulated on a World list whereas MacIntyre is sitting in third place on a European one.

“No, it’s there,” said MacIntyre in reply to being asked if he was still trying to block out any talk of the Ryder Cup. “What I did at the Scottish Open was massive. If it was anyone else in the world [apart from Rory McIlroy], I’d probably have won the tournament.

“I just have to try and stay healthy for the next four weeks. That’s my main goal (smiling)! I’ll just play golf. I’m in the right spot, I’m playing well, I just need to get my feet up for a while.

“Five weeks is a lot. I normally play well at the end of the stretch and last week was maybe my peak. It wasn’t a bad peak, but it wasn’t the week at The Open (finihing in a tie for 71st behind American Brian Harman) and it’s now onto the next one.”

The DP World Tour is currently having a new three-week summer before the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland, D+D Real Czech Masters and Omega European Masters in Switzerland are the final three qualifying events on this side of the Atlantic.

“This week is just chill out with friends and family. Do bits and bobs and not play much over the next week and a half. Normally I would just kick back in the house, but we’re going away to Nice for five days. To take the mind off things and get a bit of sunburn. Then just get back on the horse,” said MacIntyre.

“I’ll play Prague then Crans. A lot can change from now to then. It’s out of my control, really. I just go and play golf. I’ve never done well at Crans. It’s at altitude. So we can right a wrong.”

On the back of his stunning performance in the Genesis Scottish Open, the 26-year-old secured temporary status for the PGA Tour, but he’s resisting the temptation to play in either the 3M Open or Wyndham Championship over the next fortnight.

“Realistically it means nothing,” he said of that status. “The ten cards from the DP World Tour (through the Race to Dubai, where he currently sits sixth) would be better. I’m just trying to pick up the points. I have looked at it quite a bit. I know where I’m sitting. I looked at last year’s points.

“So I thought, ‘don’t get killed in the next couple of months and we should be okay’. The PGA Tour is where everybody wants to be and that’s where everybody is playing. The best in the world are there and I have to get myself there, too, and try my best.

“There’s a lot of good stuff on the horizon. I’ve always said since I came on tour that good golf takes care of every problem I have in life. I didn’t have much money when I came on tour so it was a case of playing good golf and that took care of that.

“Then you can follow your dreams and good golf takes care of them, too. It’s plain and simple. Work hard, play well and the rewards come.”