Of course, the gloss was taken off MacIntyre’s start to a new decade when he withdrew from the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship but the green light to return to competition this week at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic is flashing as though it’s about to turn yellow.
He was four-over through 10-holes and this after doubling the ‘tightended’ par-4 ninth before regrouping and get back to one-over thanks to birdies at 13, 16 and 17.
MacIntyre then produced a shot never seen in a stunning 2019 season and that was to find a bunker well right of the 18th green, and indeed at the back of the adjoining ninth green but then fly the green with his third and then walk off with a bogey ‘6’.
The MacIntyre of two months ago would taken a birdie ‘4’.
The ultra-talented Scot simply struggled in posting a two-over par 74 and with the young 23-old sporting strapping on his left wrist and clearly protecting the wrist in playing a number of shots about the Emirates course.
MacIntyre headed for the scorer’s hut in a round of a two-over par 74 and with much to do to get back to the form that earned him three superb second-place finishes in his rookie 2019 year.
SPOT OF BOTHER @robert1lefty down the last in his maiden @OmegaDDC showing @EmiratesGC 😟 pic.twitter.com/9L4MdxUEdy
— Golf & Science🍋⛳️ (@TOURMISS) January 23, 2020
“I played absolutely terrible to be four-over-par after 10 holes,” he said.
“I did get unlucky with my bogeys at the par 5s. The faces on the bunkers are quite steep yet my ball plugged in a face on one at the tenth.
“It was almost 90 degrees. Graeme [McDowell] was in beside me and I had to get him to rake the bunker as I was just trying to get it out of the plug and knew it was going to stay in the bunker.
“It was a frustrating day, but I hung in. It’s a tough course and you just can’t attack pins, which I love to do. It’s also a plotter’s course, I feel. You’ve got to be smart and when you have not played for eight weeks like me, you are not smart.
“It takes time to even think about what you are doing out there and I got a few numbers wrong with my yardages today so everything about me was slow and off and I’m just glad to get today over with.”
And as for his injured left hand/wrist?
“Everything is fine and we’ve already had a chat that if I feel anything, I’m out,” he said.
“The big test was in the bunker at the tenth where the face was like concrete but I’m all right after that.”
