PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 16, 2024

Robert MacIntyre

Valhalla Golf Club

Flash Quotes

THE MODERATOR: Robert MacIntyre is with us now at the 106th PGA Championship. 5-under today. How do you feel about your first round.

ROBERT MacINTYRE: It was a solid round of golf. I managed to stay disciplined, and yeah, just accepted -- better acceptance of the poorer shots and just managed it around a tough golf course really well today.

Yeah, it was a decent score.

Q. What's been the key to bringing the form you've been showing the last couple weeks into today?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: To be honest, I think it was spending some time back at home in Scotland. It's no secret I've been living in America. It's been tough. It's not like Oban.

When I go back home, it's a lot of friends and family you get to spend time with, my nieces, everyone that's close to me and really cares for me.

When I'm in America, it's just me, my girlfriend, and we're trying to -- I don't know, trying to live as good a life as we can. But it's difficult when we're both so close to family and friends.

Yeah, I got three weeks at home there and hardly touched the golf clubs, done some stupid stuff and just enjoyed myself.

Q. You've shown in the past that your performance at The Open and at the Ryder Cup you're a man for the big occasion. Do you enjoy coming back to the big stage, your fir major as a Ryder Cup player?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: Yeah, to be honest, I mean, today I had zero expectation.

I just go out there, it's nice to get off reasonably early in a golf tournament. And you get fresh greens; you've got no one to chase. You're going out there just trying to post a score as good as you can.

Today obviously I got off to a nice start on a tough stretch of holes, and I just kept pushing and pushing, and Mike, my caddie, done well in managing me well when I was out of position. It's not just a golf course that you can go straight at things. It's a golf course that you need to think about when you're out of position.

Q. It seems like scores are lower across the board. Did you see anything in the course and conditions that may have led to that?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: I mean, there was some serious storms the last kind of two nights. I seen last night before I went to bed, I was seeing -- looked outside, and it was pouring rain, and the golf course is softer.

But I'm still shelling 4, 5-, 6-irons into a lot of par-4s. These guys are good. They've stretched the golf course as long as they can. It's one of the longest golf courses I've ever played. Hopefully it's one of the longest I'll ever play. It's just a solid golf course. These guys are good.

Q. About the kind of struggles coming and playing in the States, did you expect to have to deal with those kind of obstacles when you came, or did it kind of hit you out of the blue?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: To be honest, I didn't know what to expect. I was coming out, it was going to be a new environment. I knew a lot of guys, but it's just a different environment on the PGA TOUR. It's very much business. There's not as much chatting that goes on.

In Europe, we travel the world. You know what I mean, we go to Asia, the Middle East. We go all over the place. When you're in these countries and you don't speak the local language, you kind of have to stick together. There's just a group of guys that I kind of hang about with in Europe that make life on the road a lot easier.

Out here, it's me and my girlfriend, who I feel like we do a good job in trying to enjoy it as much as we can. We get people from my team, family, coming out every now and again, just trying to freshen things up.

But it's different. Life is different. I mean, yeah, I don't know what else to say. If you go to Europe, if you go to European people and American people, we're just different.

Q. Have you considered, like, going back over there and playing if it's that difficult?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: Yeah, I mean, I'm trying to keep my PGA TOUR card. I'm trying to win golf tournaments on the PGA TOUR.

I'm more than happy playing the PGA TOUR. For me, I'm just trying to work out life, to be honest. It's more -- that's been more the problem; or not the problem, more the difficult side of being in America.

It's more where I want to live, and whether that's in Scotland, in America, we're still trying to work that out.

That's what this year was for. This year was for working that out. I mean, who knows if I'd come in and played great at the start of the year, then you know what? Probably living in Orlando is going to be great. But I didn't. I come in; I didn't play great.

But golf -- a season can change in a heartbeat, and I don't really worry about the past. I try and look forward and try and improve what I'm doing.

I think the last little while, I've improved almost my process prior to playing any sort of golf. I'm in a good mind frame after getting home to Scotland.

Q. What course in Orlando did you set up shop?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: Yeah, so I'm a member at Isleworth. Great track, great facilities, great people. But it's not home.

Q. You talk about the length of this golf course, how long it's playing. What do you think you did best today?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: I drove it really well. I done everything great, or good, to be honest. I drove it well. The tee shots, I didn't feel uncomfortable. I managed to pick a shot that I trusted, and I got comfortable to hit that shot. Then tried to bring it alive.

Other than that, I just -- I was smart. Tee shots where I felt like I could give it some extra distance because it made the fairway wider, I let it have it. Other tee shots that felt a little bit tighter, I just knew I had to get the right shape for the hole to make the fairway as big as I could, and I got the right shape off the tee.

Overall, it was just a solid, solid round of golf.

Q. You said that when you're happy, you feel dangerous on the golf course; that you can really do something. Did you feel happy out there today?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: A hundred percent. I'm in a good mind frame coming off of the last few events. Team event with -- obviously being at home is a massive help.

Then I come out and play a team event with Thomas Detry. We have great fun, we score well.

Went to Dallas, played all right. Long golf course, scoring was ridiculous. Then went to last week, played with Ryan Fox the first two rounds, having a laugh. Life was great.

I've come this week. I've got my mom out. She's cooking and cleaning for my whole team. I'm having too many cakes and desserts this week. But we're having a good time.

Look, when I can be around friends, family, people closest to me, people that actually care about me, they speak to me as Bob the human rather than Bob the golfer. I think that's when I'm at my happiest, when I'm not talking about golf, golf, golf. Life is actually more important than what I'm doing out here.