… Dubai, UAE
Despite getting the ‘silent treatment’ for the most part by his American ‘Rookie of the Year’ rival, Bob MacIntrye remains on target to capture the coveted ‘Rookie of the Year’ despite an average debut round of 71 at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
Scotland’s top-ranked stumbled to be one-over par through 12 holes and a shot behind playing partner Kurt Kitayama before regrouping to finish square with the Las Vegan golfer on one-under par, and with MacIntyre now only needing to finish ahead of Kitayama to win the Sir Henry Cotton trophy.
It left the duo sharing 21st place in the elite 50-player field and eight shots adrift of Frenchman Mike Lorenzo-Vera who eagled the second to then birdie his closing four hoes in a nine-under par 63.
PRETTY CHUFFED @robert1lefty @bouncespmgt @GlencruittenG to ‘bounce’ back from 10th hole double to post opening @dpwtc 7⃣1⃣ @JGEGolf #RolexSeries
Same score as ‘Rookie of the Year’ rival Kitayama 👏
Three #RaceToDubai rounds 2019 to play & advantage 🏴 @sottishgolf 💪 pic.twitter.com/Tg1kkIb8vC
— Fatiha Betscher & Bernie McGuire (@TOURMISS) November 21, 2019
Rory McIlroy pulled-off what he described as his ‘shot of the year’ in sending his TaylorMade No. 22 ball with the word ‘RORS’ stamped soaring from 291-yards out to around six-feet from the pin and then calmly rolling-in the eagle putt.
The World No. 2 stated ahead of the season-ending event he could play the course blindfolded and he again brought the Jumeriah course to its knees with five birdies in his first seven holes.
McIlroy dropped a shot at 12 but then birdied 15 and 16 before his heroics at the last and with his score of 64 a lowest round on the Greg Norman designed Earth Course since a 65 on day three at the 2015 event that set-up a second DP World triumph.
He said: “Honestly it’s possibly the best shot I’ve hit all year.
“I had 270 — equivalent 272-yards to the front, 291 to the pin, sort of back in off the left. Wind was off the left so it was a nice one for me to just aim straight at the pin and know if I hit my little draw it should hold but if it gets going on the wind, obviously the bunker on the right is better than the water on the left. I just flushed it.
“That shot is also up there, up there with a similar shot first year I played Doral in 2009.
Young Scot Robert MacIntyre the focus of attention on day one of the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. (Photo @tourmiss)
“People remember the two fairway wood shots I hit into the 16th and the 18th to win the 2016 Irish Open and all that stuff but just from sheer quality golf shots standpoint and just having to step up and button one, it’s up there.
“It was great to finish like that, and yeah, it was a great round of golf.”
McIntyre pulled off the shot of his round down the first and after sending his opening tee-shot in his first start into the year-ending event into trees down the left side.
The Oban lefty pulled a 7-iron and picked the gap superbly, hitting a lone leaf and then after some uncertainty as to the ball’s whereabouts he emerged back to the fairway with a smile as wide as the Forth of Firth on his face, in seeing his ball some 10-feet from the flag.
He said: “As soon as I hit it, I didn’t know where it went. I just tried to stay down on the ball and get up as much as I could. It was a perfect shot but did leave me a tricky putt.”
MacIntyre missed the putt but again after leaked drive left at the next, he walked off with the first of five birdies, and with his only real hiccup a double on the downhill par-4 10th hole.
He said: “I actually played good but just got the wind wrong on a couple of occasions, as I can’t hit my normal drive with right-to-left wind, and it’s been like that since I was a wee boy.
“I try and hit the draw and it ain’t coming back when it starts out left.
“In saying that, my iron play is as good as it’s been. It doesn’t really normally let me down so overall positive.”
Kitayama gambled with his second shot into the 18th that veered way right and some five rows back in a greenside stand. He was given a ‘free’ drop and pulled off a superb chip for a closing birdie and tie his Scottish rival.
It is the third time in three Tour events the duo have been out together and so much so, MacIntyre says the American seems to have run out of conversation.
MacIntyre said: “There was not too much talking. I wasn’t in the right frame of mind after the start on the back nine.
“Greg (Milne – caddy) and I were having a little chat to ourselves most of the way around.
“I try and get the chat going but a lot of the time, guys don’t want to, you just get the hint that they are not wanting to talk.
“Me, I could I could talk the hind legs off a donkey.
“It doesn’t even worry if I’m being honest. If he does his thing — my job is to win my battle. If I win every battle that I set myself, then the outcome will be irrelevant, and it will be what it will be.”
