How stats guru is helping Bob MacIntyre close gap on dominant world No 1
Bob MacIntyre hit the nail on the head. “I think he is head and shoulders above everyone else in the world of golf,” said the Oban man of Scottie Scheffler as the American capped an incredible year by storming to a six-shot success in the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.
It was Scheffler’s ninth victory in 2024 and, with all due respect to Xander Schauffele in particular after his two major wins, there’s no contest really when it comes to determining the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year.
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Hide Ad“It’s been pretty surreal,” said the world No 1 of his season and even more so, of course, when you add in his short time in a Louisville jail cell after being arrested on his way to Valhalla for the second of the PGA Championship in May.
There are times when Scheffler, who was trying out a new hybrid putting style in his final outing of the calendar year at Albany Golf Course and was 14 for 14 on putts from ten feet and less in the final round as he defended his title in the Tiger Woods-hosted event, simply looks unstoppable.


“Since Ted Scott went on the bag, he’s been Tiger-esque,” observed MacIntyre, who first came across the Texas-based player when they were on opposing teams in the 2017 Walker Cup in Los Angeles. “It’s incredible to see and, though I’ve not really played that much with him, I just look at the scores he is posting week in, week out and it is ridiculous.”
There’s absolutely nothing to suggest that Scheffler will slow down in 2025, having already proved those who’d predicted him becoming a dad for the first time earlier this year might do so, which means those currently in his shadow need to look at every possible way to try and close what has become a huge gap in terms of the world rankings.
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Hide AdMacIntyre started the year sitting 56th in the global standings and is up to 14th after climbing one spot on the back of finishing seventh on his debut in the Hero World Challenge. Make no mistake, it’s been a brilliant year for the Scot, having landed his breakthrough win on the PGA Tour when winning the RBC Canadian Open with his dad Dougie caddying for him then adding a fairytale victory a few weeks later in the Genesis Scottish Open.
There is absolutely no denying that the 28-year-old now looks very comfortable indeed playing alongside the game’s best players, declaring in summing up a pleasing performance that saw him pick up $215,000 that “tee to green, this is as good as I have ever played”.
That’s mainly down to the work he’s put in with his swing coach, Simon Shanks, while MacIntyre has also made a recent addition to his support team by starting to work with Mark Horton, a renowned statistician who, using data to determine course decisions and strategy, has helped Billy Horschel record some big wins in his career.
Horton examines each golf course a player is facing and breaks each one down on a granular shot by shot basis; where to miss, scoring holes and how specific holes have been played historically by tour players over the years.
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Hide Ad“I’m not going into detail with it as much as Billy is doing, but my first time using it was in Dubai (where he also finished in the top ten in the DP World Tour Championship) and I thought it worked really well there and he’s done it this week for me again,” said MacIntyre.
“It’s brilliant with the ShotLink data he’s got and it simplifies the golf course for me, to be honest. It’s about keeping it in play and picking up shots where you are meant to pick up by focusing your threat on certain holes on the golf course.
“Look, I executed two out of the three kinds of objectives in Dubai and, if I had done the third one, I would have been holding another trophy. This week I probably wouldn’t due to Scheffler playing the way he is playing. I like the work he does. This is just the second week of us working together and I think he is a great addition to the team.”


MacIntyre, who will start his 2025 calendar campaign with a double-header in Hawaii before heading to the Middle East for the Hero Dubai Desert Classic then tee up in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, WM Phoenix Open, Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship heading into The Masters, now works with Stephen Sweeney on his putting, which is the one area currently causing him “stress” and needing some attention.
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Hide Ad“I go through stages with putting,” he admitted. “Sometimes I am terrible then I will go through a stretch where it is unbelievable. I’m just in one of those dips with it right now and it’s about fine tuning it and getting comfortable again, whether it is a change or putter or change of style.”
Though his putter shaft was bending a few times in the Bahamas, it was evident that the Scot is getting better at controlling his frustration. “I don’t think there is any problem with letting it out, but there is a limit to it and it’s about not crossing that line when you do lose it a bit,” he admitted with a smile.
In some ways, MacIntyre probably doesn’t want 2024 to come to an end because it might not get better than what happened to him this year when you think of those two amazing storylines, but, boy, has he set up a platform for an exciting 2025, which, of course, sees a Ryder Cup in New York as one of the highlights.
“It is nice to have two or three weeks at home, but last year I kind of took the foot off the gas at this stage and came back out and my speed was down with the driver and was a bit all over the place,” he said. “But now I’ve got the simulator at home and it’s just about trying to keep doing what I have been doing.”
More of the same and he could well close that gap on the game’s top dog in the next 12 months.
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