GENESIS SCOTTISH OPEN

July 11, 2023

Robert MacIntyre

The Renaissance Club

Press Conference

BRIONY CARLYON: I had to have Robert MacIntyre here at the Genesis Scottish Open.

Bob, you're leading Scot now in The Race to Dubai rankings and a few good weeks leading into your home open. Give us a sense of what it's like to be back in Scotland?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: Yeah, it's obviously great to be back on home soil. There's been a lot of travel this year, all over the place, all over the word but now to get back here, showing a bit of form -- but the next two weeks are absolutely massive. That's what I've built the last three weeks up for is to come out of these two with a real freedom and just get ready to play golf.

Q. Obviously there been a lot going on in your head. Is the head clear now going into these two weeks?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: Last week was probably the best golf I've played in a long, long time, in about a year, I'd say. I had so much control of the golf ball, for 71 holes, I was in absolute cruise control.

Obviously I changed caddie, that's permanent. I changed coach there for 2 1/2 weeks and then I thought in my head, this isn't the right time or place to be doing this just now. Went back at the start of last week after The Belfry. Phoned him up and just went back to what we had done, kind of leading into early last year. We had good work on Wednesday, and just Stewart Morgan, my performance coach always talks, you work on things but when you're on the golf course play golf.

On Thursday, it was so difficult with the wind, and I played unbelievable. I played golf the way I knew how to play golf. I just swung the golf club. I played unbelievable. My head is in a good place. I feel like you have to take a couple of punches before you can hold the trophy. One of the ones we had such a good chance to win but again it was just all preparation for these two weeks.

Q. Making quick change, going back to Simon, was that difficult or was that easier?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: It's difficult in dish different ways and in all honesty it was pretty easy when he can when he can when I played Germany and the British Masters. British Masters was just nowhere near good enough and I was putting in a lot of work. It just wasn't the right fit at the right time. I worked with six, seven years with Davey, so it's not like Davey was a problem. It's almost the way I play golf now, wasn't fitting in and it was pretty simple in my own head. There's so many people that you can get advice from, different opinions. Everyone's got opinions.

For me, it's about trusting myself and I thought it was the right time and the right move to take to go back to Davey but I quickly knew it was the wrong time to make the change. Professional golfers, Greg said it to me at the start of the week, winning this job, if Richie not built for it, you can get fired. He understand it is, and issue everyone else in the industry understands it.

Q. Richie was very much saying that he'll take the positives out of last week, that it was 99.9 per cent spot on. Is that the same attitude for yourself?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: I shared a car with Richie going to the airport Sunday night. Richie was on the phone speaking to his family, friends. I was getting phone calls from Stoddy and I was hanging up and I wasn't speaking to nobody. I wasn't in the right frame of mind. But when I sat back and I look at it, I played for the first 12 holes -- for the first 12 holes I played golf perfectly. I was hitting the right shots at the right time. Didn't hole a putt. That's fine. Still had the lead.

I just hit a good shot, flushed it, but just pulled it ten yards. My natural shape is a draw and with the wind off the left, it was curving the wrong direction. When I seen it take off, I was like, just hit something. Just give me a shot. And it ended up, I was -- it wasn't pretty but no, overall, I'd have said I played 71 holes unbelievable.

Q. If you were getting phone calls, would that have been a quiet journey in the car?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: Before we were in the car we spoke to each other. Richie has been out here a lot longer than me. He was a bit calm and chatting away. Once he was on the phone calls, I sat in the front seat. Richie spent some cash and bought me a bottle of coke. I was sitting there in absolute silence thinking to myself, what just went wrong, why has it went wrong. But I'm here now and past week is last week.

Q. How long does that Robert MacIntyre last?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: Because it was my problem that you saw, it was -- it lasts an hour. Once we were on the plane, I was fine. Once I spoke to people, said, you know what, that's not the last hiccup I'm going to have on the journey. It's going to happen again. But if you keep putting yourself in positions, Kenya, Korea, last week, I mean, I can't not lift a trophy at some point.

Q. Did you think it's ever predicting in this unpredictable game --

ROBERT MacINTYRE: It's feeling good. Before we set out on this five-week stint, Stewart Morgan, he was just like, right, the next three weeks, it's preparing for the next event, prepare for the next event. So we are not worrying about, really, trying to win the golf tournament. Just trying to prepare for these final two events. That's what I play golf for in The Scottish Open and The Open Championship.

I feel like I've done that pretty well. I was one step shy last week, and what better time to correct the wrong than one of these next two.

Q. Richie was saying about this course suits certain players. How would you assess it?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: I've struggled here in the past. A mixed opinion on the weather and the draw and whatnot, but the greens are looking a little better. I said that Eddie, who was driving around, checking the course. This place is getting better and better. It's looking great now and hopefully my golf game stays where it is and I have a good week.

Q. There's been a lot of expectation on you externally. Just the way you've discussed it, is this as stress-free you've felt going into a Scottish Open?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: A little bit. I think that I'm a few years wiser. I know what I can and I can't do. It's almost like with the buildup of the three events, I've got to try and reserve some energy. Played nine holes, warmed up, play nine, do this, disappear. Play the Pro-Am tomorrow, disappear. Just nine holes, nine holes. The first few years played this, I put so much pressure on myself. It's another golf tournament and I just have to try and treat it like that. It's a little bit different when it doesn't start the way you want it to start, but again, no matter what happens this week, I have another shot next week, kind of thing.

Q. Some people have criticised Scottish mentality. Does it bug you when media people say that?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: I see that these guys are just keyboard warriors, I suppose. I'm happy with myself out there. I'm a competitive person. But it's golf. If I'm playing, I want to win. It doesn't matter if it's with my wee niece, I might give her a couple of points but she won't beat me. It annoys me, but I see a couple things that annoyed me recently, but again, everybody's got an opinion. I know that I won early last year and that was a real breakthrough, I felt, with such a strong field.

Q. Do these things make you more determined?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: It does a little bit. But they don't -- they don't change what I do and how I do it. Just I see them and I just accept that they are there. No matter what happens, I could have missed by a shot and they would still be saying -- Thursday, Friday, Saturday, so you can't keep them happy. Just keep myself happy.

Q. When you enter the tournament, do you think only to win or to play for the next tournament?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: The last three weeks is just about literally preparing for the next event, what do I need to do. Obviously I'm trying to win a golf tournament when I'm out there. Trying to win Munich, The Belfry. You're still trying to win, and I was in positions to win a couple of them.

But it's not getting too caught up in the results. It's just about building up to this and making sure that you can hit all the shots when you need to hit them. I think I've done that well last week. And last week was good -- I thought it was great preparation this week with the wind and whatnot going on, and obviously the weather, but it was just -- it's just literally building up for these weeks. These weeks are the ones you want to win.

Q. Obviously the mistake you made on 14 last week, you accepted after the tournament -- it's preparation?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: Yeah, accept the ones that happened. I worked a lot on my attitude and my mental side of it, but then the last year, and I accepted it, unbelievably well. Obviously you're going to get angry and I accepted it really well, it was just the shock of what just happened, I couldn't get over. You're knocked on the canvas and you couldn't get back up. It was like, where does that come from? I didn't know.

I took the next -- I finished and knew I was making double, triple, hole the putt for a double, if not, make triple. But I couldn't -- once I walked off that green, I was clear, had a great shot on 14, but I couldn't stop thinking about what just happened because it was -- it was out of absolutely nowhere. I had full control of my golf ball the whole tournament for that one shot.

Q. Just looking ahead to Hoylake, any experience of playing the course and how will you prepare? Just try and do it as normal?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: Yeah, I've never been. I've got a few mates that that live down there, played Walker Cup down there, a couple of them have kept in touch the last couple years. Other than that, treat it like another golf tournament, hit the shots you want to hit, hit your numbers and you'll do all right.

Q. We spoke before the U.S. Open about L.A. Country Club, how did you enjoy or not enjoy -- the short par 3?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: It was carnage, that, just a flick. I think it was a decent U.S. Open. It just wasn't many -- you didn't feel the atmosphere on the TV but from the golf side of it, I thought it was a good one.

Q. Why can't professionals hit an 80-yard shot?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: It's not easy. That's as far as you can hit it. I said it was a great hole, knock-down there, knock the tee up, there's a wee hump in the middle, you miss it on the wrong side, you're done for. You hit it on the right side, you're perfect.

Q. I wanted to ask you about the recent goings on with the agreement between the tours and everything. From your perspective, what would you like to see be the benefits for the DP World Tour, a long way to be decided still but what can help the DP World Tour that with all of this coming together hopefully?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: I don't know what would be the benefits. Obviously there's a financial side of it. That's why guys went. But until it happens, there's so much to go on, whether it happens or not, so I think until then, I didn't -- I wouldn't have had any say. I just don't know, I could be sitting here next year and it's not gone ahead and we are back to square one. Until that happens, I'm not the brightest guy, so I don't really read about it and I don't see the ins and outs of what can happen. But for now, it's just let the guys at the top of the table deal with it and I'll get told what I need to know when I need to know.