Bob MacIntyre changes both coach and caddie in bid to rekindle his 'love' for golf

Bob MacIntyre has changed both his coach and caddie heading into a five-week run of events that could be crucial in his bid to play in the Ryder Cup in Rome in September.

Bob MacIntyre has a laugh with Greg Milne, his caddie at the time, and coach David Burns during a practice round for the 148th Open Championshipat Royal Portrush in 2019. Picture: Andrew Redington/Getty Images.

It’s a case of turning back the clock in both instances, with the Oban man, who isn’t scared to make big decisions but, at the same time, never takes them lightly, having linked up again with coach David Burns and caddie Greg Milne.

MacIntyre worked with both Burns and Milne when, helped by a top-ten finish on his major debut in The Open at Royal Portrush, he was crowned as the DP World Tour Rookie of the Year in 2019.

The left-hander then made the “most difficult decision” in his life when replacing Irishman Milne on the bag with fellow Scot Mike Thomson just under three years ago before making an equally-tough call when he left Burns less than a year ago to be coached by Englishman Simon Shanks.

Bob MacIntyre points at the Ryder Cup, which was on display during the BMW International Open Pro-Am at Golfclub Munchen Eichenried in Germany. Picture: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images.

In his time with Thomson, MacIntyre won both the 2020 Cyprus Showdown and 2022 DS Automobiles Italian Open, with the second of those successes coming after he’d teamed up with Shanks. But, after starting to feel he’d lost his love for the game in recent months, the 26-year-old has Milne back at his side for this week’s BMW International Open in Munich and is working again on his swing with Burns.

“You make decisions based on facts and personal reasons, if I was being honest,” MacIntyre told The Scotsman at Golfclub München Eichenried, where he is among seven Scots teeing up in the $2 million event.

“I’ve not been enjoying my golf. Everyone has probably seen that. I’ve been hard on myself. I’ve not been the Bob of 2019, 2020 and the early part of ‘21. I’ve gone away from who I was and I felt when I was at home, because I wasn’t enjoying it as much on the road, I wasn’t practising as hard.

“Obviously I did great with Shanksy, winning in Italy, but the main reason I am changing coach is the fact I’m closer to home with Davy, I can see him more. It’s just simple, really, and it’s the same with Mike in making a change of caddie. Greg’s more my age and I’m just trying to find the love for what I am doing. Trying to have a laugh and not let golf get in the way of that.”

Recalling their first spell together, he added: “There was a good connection. We are from similar background and also from small towns - me from Oban and Greg from Waterford. We’ve got the same personality. As much as it looks as though I’m a pretty serious guy, when I step away from the cameras, I like to have a laugh and he’s like that as well. Hopefully this is the sign of better things to come.”

Keen to stress that he’d not made the respective decisions due to either Thomson or Shanks “doing something wrong” and that he’d parted company with both on friendly terms, MacIntyre admitted that trying to have “fun” in his chosen profession had definitely become more difficult with each passing year and the success he’d enjoyed at the start of his DP World Tour career.

“Your ego changes. Your expectation, which is part of the ego, changes - it gets bigger,” he said. “Instead of just binning it all. Do what you do. Play golf. If it’s good, it’s good. If it’s bad, it’s bad. Just move on to the next one. No-one’s been hurt. It’s just a game of golf. And that’s the way we did it in 2019 with Greg. We were new to the tour and just thought ‘peg it up and take on the world’. That’s what we did and that’s what we are trying to get back to.”

In addition to the Munich event, MacIntyre will tee up in the Betfred British Masters at The Belfry and the Made in Himmerland in Denmark in the next fortnight before turning his attention to the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club and the 151st Open at Royal Liverpool.

“There is,” he said, speaking on the day that marked 100 days to go to the Ryder Cup, of there still being a lot of golf to be played before the 12 places up for grabs in Luke Donald’s team are filled. “It just takes a potentially two or three-week stretch at the right time to make that team. But, as I’ve said since the start, I am not really worrying about it. If it doesn’t happen, I’ll be disappointed. But I’m only 26.

“There’s so much good in my game just now and I’ve just got to fine tune little bits. This is the first week of five and it might not happen this week but it’s about trying to play this week as if we are preparing for next week then play next week as if we are preparing for the following week and then when we get to the Scottish Open and The Open, it’s just a case of letting it go and try and let the floodgates open.

“It’s just trying to get away from thinking ‘I should be winning this and winning this’. It’s about trying to prepare for something and just let it happen.”

Also flying the Saltire on the outskirts of Munich are Ewen Ferguson, Calum Hill, Connor Syme, Scott Jamieson, Marc Warren and Stephen Gallacher. Hill also has a change of caddie after linking up again with Phil ‘Wobbly’ Morbey after they had an initial spell together following the Scot recording a top-five finish in the 2021 Saudi International as they joined forces for the first time.