Bob MacIntyre defends DP World Tour but insists: I don’t hate or dislike LIV Golf players

Bob MacIntyre insists he doesn’t “hate or dislike” players for joining LIV Golf but he definitely disagrees with Sergio Garcia’s damning verdict about the DP World Tour.

Austrian Bernd Wiesberger, one of the Oban man’s biggest influences since he secured his main tour card, joined the Saudi-backed breakaway circuit, as did Patrick Reed.

The former Masters champion has become a close friend of MacIntyre’s over the past couple of years and they are back in the same field for this week’s Cazoo Open de France at Le Golf National outside Paris.

On the eve of that event, newly-crowned DS Automobiles Italian Open champion MacIntyre was asked if he was still friends with the LIV Golf players and, as always, gave an honest reply.

Bob MacIntyre and Bernd Wiesberger pictured with their caddies during the 2021 Made in HimmerLand event in Denmark. Picture: Andrew Redington/Getty Images.

“My job is my business; (Bernd’s) job is his business,” he said, referring to former Scottish Open champion Wiesberger. “I don’t hate them for it, I don’t dislike them in any way about it. They picked it and away they went.”

In the build up to the recent BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, Garcia, another LIV Golf man, claimed that the DP World Tour is “going to become the fifth best tour in the world” as a result of its strategic alliance with the PGA Tour.

That was laughed off by Keith Pelley, the DP World Tour chief executive, as he said the circuit was “unquestionably the No 2 tour in the world by a country mile”, with MacIntyre concurring.

“It’s a strong feeder tour,” he declared. “The top guys are playing, at Wentworth we had some of the best players in the world and same last week (in the Italian Open).

“It’s strong fields and, for me, it’s just playing another golf tournament and trying to win it. I’m not looking at fields and what’s around me, I’m looking to win titles.”

Through the strategic alliance, ten PGA Tour cards will be up for grabs on next season’s DP World Tour.

Along with the Ryder Cup in Rome, that will be one of MacIntyre’s big goals in 2023, but, for the time being at least, he no longer seems to be in a frenzied hurry to get a status on the US circuit.

Having now won twice on the DP World Tour, the left-hander is determined to keep racking up titles and, after feeling frustrated for most of this season, an exciting end to the current campaign now lies ahead.

“Yeah,” he replied to being asked if the past year had shown that he needs to be patient with his career, “but you also have to keep pushing yourself forward. It’s a game where if you are standing still, you are getting overtaken.

“I am pushing every week. Even this week, yesterday I did some good work and today I’ll be doing some more good work with Simon (Shanks, his coach). It’s about keeping on trying to get better and, if I’m doing that, these good weeks are going to happen more often.”

MacIntyre spearheads a ten-strong Caledonian contingent at Le Golf National, where the defending champion is Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts after his win in 2019 – the last time the event was held.