Bob MacIntyre is strapping himself in for another 'special' Renaissance ride after a superb second-day 66 left him two shots off the pace at the halfway stage of the Scottish Open. The Oban native thrilled home fans and now has a serious chance of emulating his 2024 victory on home soil.
Strong Start and Key Moments
MacIntyre, who also finished second at Renaissance in 2023, credited his caddy for keeping him focused. “It was a hard graft at the start, but Mike kept saying: We’ll get our time, we’ll get our time and we did get our chances,” he said. “I actually said to Mike on the eighth hole, I was a bit glass half-empty, I’m like: We’re actually one shot off the cut line here. We need to be more aggressive and took our chances coming in.”
The highlight came at the signature par-three Thistle hole, where his birdie putt dropped to roars from the packed stands. “I don’t show too much emotion. I try to stay as calm as I can,” MacIntyre said. “But it's brilliant the support I had out there and, thankfully, I made two nice twos late on when the stands are full. Yeah, it is brilliant to have the support everywhere I go in Scotland.”
Playing with the Best
MacIntyre was grouped with Rory McIlroy and Chris Gotterup, a pairing he said pushed him to perform. “When you play with the best players in the world, you’re seeing good shot after good shot and it just gets you in a mind frame of attack,” he said. “Obviously playing with them two the last two days is brilliant, past winners as well, so they know how to play this course.”
Gotterup acknowledged the fan support for MacIntyre and McIlroy: “I have a ways to go to catch the fan support with Rory and Bob over here! I expect that when I come over here, but all in all it’s been really fun and nice to be back over here and relive some things and it’s a good start.”
Life Beyond Golf
Off the course, MacIntyre has a new distraction – his son Findlay. “I don’t think about golf, which is a great thing. I’ll get handed the wee man in the morning and then we’ll go from there!” he said. “Hopefully we can put on a good performance and get right in about it and challenge for the title again.”
Reflecting on the crowd's energy, MacIntyre added: “I get goosebumps and I love it when they cheer for me, but it’s trying to stay as calm as I can and just make sure to move forward after that.”
