Robert MacIntyre returns to Oban guttered after a ‘disastrous’ last round of the season and losing out two-fold in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
MacIntyre let slip an automatic end-of-year invitation into next April’s Masters and also missed out on joining Sandy Lyle as the only back-to-back ‘Rookie of the Year’ and also European No. 1 the following year, in a horror final round 77.
The Oban lefty finished a whopping 10 shots behind England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick who captured a second DP World Tour title in four years (2016) and won with a round of 68 for one shot victory at 15-under par.
Fitzpatrick, 30, edged out Lee Westwood (68) but with the 47-year-old Westwood becoming the oldest winner of the Race to Dubai title and winning a third No. 1 crown after his first in 2000.
Fitzpatrick burst from the blocks with four straight birdies and five in seven holes and from there he was never headed for his sixth Tour win and a result that will see him jump to a career high 16th on the World Rankings.
He said: “Just the way I’ve been brought up, I’m not going to stand here and say, look at me, I’m the next best thing since sliced bread. That’s just me.
Scotland’s top-ranked Robert MacIntyre lets slip Masters invitation with ‘disastrous’ Dubai final round
“It’s the way my parents have brought me up. It’s the way my team is around me. When the highs are high, we don’t to go too high and when the lows are low, we try not to go too low.
I’m going to stand here and be honest; the Masters, I felt my game was nowhere to be seen. I was struggling but we had good warm-ups every day in the week after The Masters at the RSM Classic and also this week, so that’s been the real key and the key to my victory this week.”
The strong Sheffield United supporter proudly bought a Ford Mondeo after his first win in 2015 and was asked if his £stg 2.72m first prize cheque would buy his team a new striker.
Fitzgerald laughed saying: “The prizemoney is a very nice bonus of the job. I’m more bothered about these (raising the DE World trophy) so I’ll just let it sink in the next few days, and I’ll have a think. Maybe I’ll buy myself something nice, who knows.”
For Westwood it had been a long anxious post-round wait to be confirmed as European No. 1 and capturing a third time in 15-years by just Euro 17.8 or £16.3OP
Westwood, who revealed he was on pain-killers all week for a nagging back injury, was asked what he could buy with 16 quid.
He said: “It’s a beer here in Dubai, isn’t it?
“It’s 16 quid a beer, for a pint of Peroni here, somebody was explaining about the other day. And a Scotch egg. You’ve got a substantial meal there (laughing).”
Westwood now faces the strong strong likelihood of being honoured with the ‘2020 European Golfer of the Year’ when this journalist joins the Tour voting panel on Friday.
MacIntyre went into the last round just a shot from the front but he never recovered in bogeying his opening two holes and had slumped to five-over grabbing a first birdie of his day at the 14th.
The young Scot then dropped a sixth shot of his day at the 17th ahead of a closing par.
He said: “I’m clearly disappointed with the result but as Mike (Thomson – caddy) said to me coming up the last we have to take all the positives.
“From where I was, as eight weeks ago we weren’t in a good place on the golf course. We weren’t in a good place mentally. We were just all over the place.
“We sorted it on the golf course, we sorted it in my mind and here we were, at the final event. I didn’t think I would be here to be honest with you after everything going on.
“No, I’m delighted with the season and obviously disappointed with today but you get days like that.
“I don’t know what I can learn from a day like today as this one is going to take a wee while to get over.
“You are fighting to try and win a golf tournament and you finish .. I don’t even know where I finished. It was disastrous but again, I have to go away from this and learn.”
And in talking about learning from his Dubai disaster, MacIntyre singled out Reed, his final round playing partner who handed the young Scott a lesson in how to chip around the Earth course greens.
MacIntyre said: “I played with someone today who is an absolute magician around the greens and that showed if your game is not there, he still gets it around
“That’s the level I need to get and I know what I need to work on to get there.
In contrast, Austrian Open winner Marc Warren celebrated the close of his 15th season Tour eagling the 72nd hole in a round of 73 for a three-under tally and just outside the top-30.
Warren moved up two spots to end his year 48th on the Race to Dubai.
Drumoig’s Connor Syme was a shot behind ending the last round of a maiden DP World showing with four birdies in a 68 to finish at two-under and just outside the top-30.
Syme officially ended the season 65th on the Race to Dubai.
Scott Jamieson was headed home to Florida ending his 11th full main Tour season with a birdie but only after four Dubai rounds in the 70s including a last round 71 for an eventual one-over par total.
It handed Jamieson 70th place in the Race to Dubai and a spot higher than a year ago.
And Haddington’s Grant Forrest will be longing for a break in tailing out the field with a third round of 75 over the four days in an 11-over par tally and end the season 72nd on the money list.
