Nick Dougherty tips Bob MacIntyre to be 'one of those guys who really steps up' in Ryder Cup

Nick Dougherty has rubbished claims that Bob MacIntyre’s appearance in the 44th Ryder Cup in Rome later this month was secured on the strength of just one performance in this year's Genesis Scottish Open in East Lothian.

Team Europe's Bob MacIntyre and girlfriend Shannon Hartley pose at the Spanish Steps prior to the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome. Picture: Andrew Redington/Getty Images.

The 27-year-old from Oban will become the first Scot to play in the biennial event since Stephen Gallacher’s appearance on home soil at Gleneagles in 2014 after securing an automatic spot in Luke Donald’s side for the match at Marco Simone Golf Club.

MacIntyre joined Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton and Matt Fitzpatrick in making the team under their own steam while Tommy Fleetwood, Sepp Straka, Justin Rose, Shane Lowry, Nicolai Hojgaard and Ludvig Aberg all earned captain’s picks.

“I see there’s been some interesting PR around this,” said former DP World Tour player and now Sky Sports Golf presenter Dougherty, speaking to The Scotsman. “There’s been a few shots thrown at Shane and a few shots thrown at Bob in terms of people saying ‘oh, it’s based on one performance’.”

Bob MacIntyre celebrates after holing a birdie putt on the final hole in the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club in July. Picture: Octavio Passos/Getty Images.

The inference, of course, is that MacIntyre only made the team on the strength of his effort in the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club, where he produced a wonder shot to birdie the last only to be pipped by Rory McIlroy after he finished birdie-birdie.

“Well,” added Dougherty, referring to MacIntyre tasting victory in the DS Automobiles Open last September, when he beat Fitzpatrick, the US Open champion at the time, in a play-off after also holding off McIlroy in the final round, “let’s not forget that he’s had success at the place we are going to for the Ryder Cup .

“Let’s not also forget that when he really had to play well and, in this instance, a championship that meant the world to him - his national title - he arguably for me delivered his best-ever performance and that includes his wins.

“It was only something from Rory at full tilt that stopped him from winning the Scottish Open. When you consider how close he came to winning that tournament and the strength of that field, that tells me everything I need to know about his heart and his character and the fact that, when the stage is at its biggest, Bob can deliver and the stage isn’t going to get any bigger than the Ryder Cup.

Sky Sports presenter Nick Dougherty is a big fan of Bob MacIntyre, both as a golfer and a person. Picture: Warren Little/Getty Images.

“He doesn’t choose to throw or shout it in your face, but he’s gritty. He’s going to be a fighter and a guy who is going to get stuck in. I have absolutely no fear of him bringing his best stuff to the Ryder Cup and we’ve seen enough of his good stuff to know that he can be competitive.

“We all know how good these Americans are, but I think Bob certainly isn’t going to be one of those guys who are going to be a liability and are carrying along. I think he could be one of those guys who really steps up when we get there.”

Along with lots of others in the game, Dougherty is also a big fan of MacIntyre as a human being, liking the fact he’s never let success go to his head and still treating and engaging with people exactly the same way he did when he started out on the DP World Tour in 2019.

“He’s a truthsayer, isn’t he?” said the Englishman, who won three times on the DP World Tour, including the 2007 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews. “He hasn’t changed. He hasn’t got washed away with success. I see that alot. You see guys come out full of excitement and innocence but a sweet innocence to the wonder of the game. They love the challenge of it and it becomes a job and a chore.

"They become scarred by some of the downs they encounter in the game, as well as some thinking they are above this now because they’ve achieved their goal. I understand that they change, I get it, as they develop into whatever they become as professional athletes.

“Bob is the same Bob I met the first time I ever saw him and I love that. It sort of fits with his upbringing. When you grow up in the household he has and the life he has lived and the responsibility to the family he’s had, then a bit of success on the golf course isn’t going to change that. That’s a strength to him rather than anything else. Remaining grounded whilst also doing things that other people can’t achieve in life is a wonderful quality that is not easy to capture but Bob certainly does.”