Scottish lefty Robert MacIntyre may be the lone Scot teeing-up later this week in the 104th hosting of the PGA Championship but he’s not travelled to Tulsa, Oklahoma simply to make-up the Southern Hills numbers.
It will be MacIntyre’s third straight PGA Championship having made his debut in 2020 at Harding Park in San Francisco, though finishing well down in a tie for 66th while last year he was just inside the top-50 at Kiawah Island in South Carolina. It will also be MacIntyre’s ninth career major with a best finish being a brilliant share of sixth on debut at the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush.
He said: “The majors is what it’s all about in golf, and you have to gain respect from the top guys; you can’t just expect to have it. I think I showed that in my first major at The Open in 2019 (Finished T6th) that I can handle it and play some decent golf.
“And no matter what the major, I realise I’m not there to make up numbers, I’m there to compete.”
However, MacIntyre jets into the city made famous by legendary Gene Pitney projected later tonight to drop outside the world’s top 80 and that’s well down in being ranked 45th a year ago when teeing-up along the Atlantic Ocean shoreline.
At this stage, MacIntyre is not exempt for June’s US Open at Brookline in Massachusetts though there is still a few qualifying avenues open including finishing among the top-10 in a four-event, mini DP Tour World money-list that ends at next month’s Porsche European Open or MacIntyre moves back inside the top-60 on the World Rankings at as June 6th.
MEANTIME …. Craigielaw’s Grant Forrest is the best-placed Scot heading to the final round of the Soudal Open in Belgium in posting a third round 68 and move to six-under par, five shots behind Kiwi Ryan Fox, who signed for a 66 to lead by a shot at 11-under on the Rinkven course in Antwerp.
