Frustrated Bob MacIntyre aiming to put end to 'wasteful' work in Italian Open

Bob MacIntyre is hoping this week’s DS Automobiles Italian Open at the 2023 Ryder Cup course can spark a strong finish to the year after admitting his golf so for this season is “driving me absolutely mental”.

Bob MacIntyre shakes hands with Europe's Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald after they played in the same group in the opening two rounds of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. Picture: Andrew Redington/Getty Images.

The Oban man heads into the event at Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome with work to do in his bid to ensure the 2022 campaign goes all the way to the end of its journey on the DP World Tour.

MacIntyre currently sits 73rd in the circuit’s Order of Merit and he’ll almost certainly need to improve on that position to make the field for the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in mid-November.

The 26-year-old let valuable points slip from his grasp by covering the last six holes in Sunday’s final round of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in two-over-par, hence why he left the Surrey venue en route to Rome with steam coming out of his ears.

“You actually see good golf, good putts and then just wasteful, I waste it all,” he said. “Absolutely livid right now as I feel that I should be sitting on 11, 12, 13-under-par for the golf tournament.

“But the same old Bob this year, it’s been absolutely terrible finishes and there’s another one. I just can’t seem to put it together just now and it’s driving me absolutely mental, to be honest with you. I’ve played well enough to be contending here and I’m not, I’m finished at midday. It’s just not good enough.”

MacIntyre was crowned as DP World Tour Rookie of the Year in 2019 before landing his maiden win in the Cyprus Showdown the following year. He’s made the cut in all ten majors he’s played in, including two top-10 finishes in The Open, but this is the most frustrated he’s felt in his short professional career.

“It’s just doubt,” he declared of the double-bogey 6 that halted his momentum at Wentworth after covering the first 12 holes in five-under. “It’s just not trusting it and worrying about something that you can’t be worrying about.

“I took on a shot for my second shot. It’s the way I play golf - I take risks - and it didn’t pay off. It’s just not good enough, if I’m being honest with you.

“Obviously my first year on tour I felt I should have won a few times and I got frustrated from that. But nothing is happening for me at the moment and it’s driving me mental.”

Would he be speaking to anyone? “You can’t do anything,” he replied to that. “It’s me and Mike [Thomson, his caddie] on the pitch. It’s golf and it’s beating me up just now.

“Iron play has been absolutely brilliant for the last three weeks. Today (Sunday) we tried something where when I got on the green Mike disappears because I was doubting myself and I’d get Mike in and trying to find something.

“We spoke to Phil [Kenyon, his putting coach], Stuart [Morgan, his performance coach], everyone about the putting and we were over-complicating it. I just needed to go out there and putt and today was good all day, so there’s good signs.”

MacIntyre is also playing in next week’s Cazoo Open de France at Le Golf National before being back on Scottish soil for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns.

“It does,” he admitted of having a run of big events coming up to help keep him focused. “But it’s just disappointing the way I finished today - I let myself down the way it happened.”

Rory McIlroy, who is making his professional debut in Italy, heads a strong field in Rome that also includes US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick and four-time Rolex Series winner Tyrrell Hatton.

Joining MacIntyre in flying the Saltire are Stephen Gallacher, Grant Forrest, David Law, Scott Jamieson, Marc Warren, David Drysdale and Craig Howie.