A year ago, Robert MacIntyre was chasing the dream of ‘Rookie of the Year’ now he’s eye-balling the dizzy heights of European Tour No. 1.
MacIntyre mathematically has the chance this week of becoming the first Tartan golfer in 15-years to top the Race to Dubai money list since Colin Montgomerie captured an eighth European Tour in 2005.
The Oban lefty entered this week’s £stg 6.9m season-ender at No. 22 on the Race to Dubai money list but with the withdrawal of five ahead on the money-list, including defending DP World champ Jon Rahm and former triple European No. 1 Rory McIlroy, MacIntyre tees-up in 17th place.
Robert MacIntyre now realising he can win the European Tour Race to Dubai title.
It will be a big ask as MacIntyre will have to win the DP World Tour Championship and wish that either Patrick Reed, and currently at No. 1, along with Tommy Fleetwood (2nd), Collin Morikawa (3rd), Lee Westwood (4th), Christiaan Bezuidehout (5th), Victor Perez (6th) and Aaron Rai (7th) don’t finish second on their own.
But as the 24-year-old showed a year ago on the Jumeirah Estates Earth course in brilliantly pulling off the ‘Rookie of the Year’ title, he’s up for this higher challenge albeit at not first unaware of what lies within reach this week.
He said: “I didn’t even know that I could win the Race to Dubai so that’s a real added incentive and I’ll take winning the DP World Tour Championship, whatever comes with that comes with that.
“I do know I can’t control that and I can’t control me winning a golf tournament so I’ll go out there on Thursday morning and hit a good drive off the first tee and take it from there. That’s all I can control, one shot at a time.
“Obviously, I’m in a good place mentally and physically this year, why can’t we go and challenge so we’ll soon find out.”
Winning the Race to Dubai would also send the current World No. 59th ranked Scot well into the high 30s on the World Rankings and a first Masters invitation while a top-7 at worst would get himself into the top-50 and also a 2021 Augusta tee-time.
Making a big difference, particularly since the July lifting of the lockdown, is that MacIntyre is playing injury-free.
That was not the case last January when he was going back-and-forward from Abu Dhabi to Dubai to have MR1s on an injured wrist that forced him out of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
In his 13 events of 2020, MacIntyre grabbed a first Tour title in Cyprus and enjoyed three other top-10s.
He said: “I’m not sure what I’ve learned about myself, but my golf game has improved. I know when things are going off in my golf swing, I know how to fix them.
“That’s thanks to Dave (Burns – coach) as he’s not just teaching me a golf swing, he’s telling me why it’s going on and when I hit a bad shot it’s knowing why.
“Now when I hit the shot when I’m on the golf course, I know why it’s happened, Mike (Thomson – caddie) knows why and we can fix it on the course, rather than having to wait 18 holes. You get in and you go ‘Well Dave, what happened there? That’s a huge part.”
MacIntyre was asked also if there has been a ‘pinch yourself moment’ in these 12 months’?
He said: Apart from winning in Cyprus? Not at all. I knew my capabilities. I knew how good I was in myself and believed in it.
“A lot of people believed in me: sponsors, management, family, coaches, everyone believed in me and you can’t do what you do out here without that support.”
And at age, 24 MacIntyre is among a group of a dozen players aged between 24 and 19 teeing-up this week in Dubai, including last week’s PGA Tour winning Viktor Hovland and 19-year-old Danish sensation Rasmus Hojgaard.
Hojgaard, and with two wins this year, is hot favourite for ‘Rookie of the Year’ however may I suggest you read as there is a slight voting twist this year:
MacIntyre said: “It’s great. I don’t think I’m quite at the level as Viktor yet but I feel like I’m going in the right direction.
“I know what I’m capable of and it’s just a case of going out there and doing it now.
“I think it’s in good hands, there’s a lot of young guys coming through. I played with Rasmus last week and you can see the game that he’s got when everything clicks. He’s obviously unbelievable.
“And Viktor, you see him on the PGA Tour and you don’t have to look too far down the leader-board when he’s playing. Hopefully I can hang in there and break into the world stage.”
