No golf and no shinty for Bob MacIntyre

“I honestly don’t have a clue when we will even be thinking about playing golf again,” declared MacIntyre, having seen the sport at professional level swiftly go into lockdown, with events all over the world being postponed over the next few weeks, including next month’s Masters and the US PGA Championship in May.

The 23-year-old should have been preparing for the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in Houston. A strong showing in that could have moved him into the world’s top 50 in time to secure a debut appearance in the season’s opening major at Augusta National. That no longer matters.

“It’s a bigger thing than golf that we’ve got to worry about,” added MacIntyre.

“I think there’s a lot more to come before things get better.

“It [postponing events] is the right thing to do. If one person was contracted with the coronavirus, no matter where we were in the world, everyone was going to be trapped. If one person had got it in India this week, for example, everyone was going to be put into isolation for two weeks there. It’s not the right thing to try and keep doing our jobs while this type of thing is kicking about.”

MacIntyre’s dad, Dougie, is the head greenkeeper at Glencruitten Golf Club in Oban. A meeting was held there on Monday to discuss what steps need to be taken in the event of a coronavirus case  being recorded among the members.

“Everyone is going to start struggling,” said MacIntyre, who is one of the Aberdeen Standard Investments golf ambassadors, of the impact the virus is already starting to have in the golf industry.

“A lot of places are going to go bust. It’s about sticking together and trying to get through a tough time.”

Last season’s European Tour Rookie of the Year has had a tough time himself over the past few months. A hand  injury stopped him from working on his game during a winter break. He then had problems with his arm. It was a frustrating spell, but now, in one sense at least, he’s pleased to have a bit of time on his hands.

“The break has actually come at a great time for me,” said MacIntyre. “I’m trying to let my hand fully heal, fully heal my arm and I have also had to change my grip. I went down to see a biomechanics guy and part of the problem with my hand was coming from my slightly weak grip, so we’ve changed that.

“It’s a good time for me to work on that. I played in Qatar with a brand-new grip I got the day before I flew out. It wasn’t comfortable that week, but now I’ve got a chance to get comfortable with it. I used to have a really strong grip when I was younger, but it has gradually got weaker and weaker somehow. I’m trying to draw it from a weak grip and my path is neutral, so it means I have to flip my hands at it, and that’s where I was getting the pain. Hopefully we are on the mend and there will be no more pain.”

Following the postponements and cancellations, the next scheduled European Tour event is the Irish Open, due to be played at Mount Juliet at the end of May. That also looks under threat, but, amid the uncertainty, MacIntyre is keeping things ticking over.

“I’ve been out on the course at Glencruitten for a game,” he said. “I’m trying to keep myself active because we just don’t know what the first event will be to get us back up and running again. When we know that, it will be a like a pre-season all over again. It will be like starting out again in Abu Dhabi (where a lot of players began their 2020 campaigns in January). It will be a case of re-setting things and going again.”

The new shinty season was only a week in when the Camanachd Association took the decision to suspend all fixtures. “I was rubbing my hands, thinking the shinty season is just starting and the golf season is finished,” said MacIntyre, laughing. “But, no, it’s fallen victim to the virus  as well!”