THE 152ND OPEN

July 19, 2024

Robert MacIntyre

Mixed Zone

Q. Even by Bob standards, that was something, huh?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: That was carnage. I was actually nervous going out today, and I said it to the whole team, I'm nervous. They're like why? Because that front nine is going to be carnage for me. It's difficult.

The wind, it certainly got up when we were warming up and stuff, and I'm just thankful Mike managed to keep me somewhat calm once the head going a little bit there on 4 and kind of started to talk sense to me. We discussed what just happened. When we peeled it back, we actually didn't hit that many bad tee shots. In fact, we didn't hit any bad tee shots.

The tee shot off 1 was just to avoid a bunker. 2 was just slightly mis-hit. It's in the fairway, but you're miles back. 3 was flushed, but it just hit the wind two yards too far and catch the bunker. And the two tee shots, the provisional ball I had at 4 were just absolutely flushed. Just didn't move in the wind.

Once he started to talk sense to me, I started to realize, you know what, you actually haven't played that bad, and you're shooting gazillions here, and that's where we kind of calmed down and got closer down into the left wind where we could actually play some golf.

Q. At that point, did you think you had any chance of being here for the weekend?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: When I made that 8 on 4, my head was completely gone. Then you're standing on 5 going between a 4-iron and a rescue, and you're honestly trying to just -- trying to make bogeys instead of doubles and triples that I was making.

I didn't think I was going to make the weekend, but Mike said, Look, fans are here to watch. Just give them what they want, a severe dig and fight, and that's what I done. I just tried my best and managed to turn it around.

Q. In that case, did you say, I'm not going to make a monkey of myself?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: After four holes, I was staring 90 in the face. If that wind had stayed up and it actually did stay the same. It was just I've got a lot of pride in myself, Mike's got a lot of pride in his work. Once he straightened my head a little bit and we kind of regained focus, it was right back to work.

Q. You said you were nervous going out. Was there an element to the first four holes that you maybe psyched yourself out a little bit?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: No, I knew it was difficult. I mean, for a left-hander hitting these tee shots, you cannot start them up the middle of the fairways and try and move them. It's easier -- it's still difficult, but it's a little easier for a right-hander. You can slice it as much as you want with that amount of a cross-wind, and it ain't going offline. Whereas I'm trying to hit hooks but keep them in the sky so it fights the wind.

I was worried about the start because it was -- I knew how hard it was going to be for me. It surely was hard for me, and it kind of got me, but it was good, when the wind switched down off the left, I just started hitting drivers.

Q. How do you go from that start, Bob, to shooting 4-under for the rest of the round? You spoke last Sunday about the fighting spirit. After what you showed last week, that must have played tenfold today.

ROBERT MacINTYRE: I'll go out there and speak to the team about what we just done. I saw an attitude. You could see me getting angrier and angrier and angrier. The golf game was going away from me. I was hitting stupid shots, hitting terrible shots.

Once we calmed down, it was just simply, right, how do we get this thing in under 90 at one point, but really it was trying to break 80. When we started to get a bit of rhythm -- obviously that break on 7, where it skirted the downslope. I'm thinking, oh, that's going in that bunker, and misses, out the other side of it, and then I have a nice pitch on. You just start to build momentum.

I just started taking golf shots that I thought was the best way to get around the golf course, whether it was a big high slice with the wind or a little chip 7-iron up a fairway to try to get it front edge. It was literally damage limitation at one point.

Once we started hitting good shots, we just built on it.

Q. Do you think a year ago you'd have been able to grapple yourself back into this situation?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: No, I'd have been gone. I'd have been in my car already and up the road. The attitude has been massive for me the last probably, I don't know, 15 weeks, 12, 15 weeks. It's been superb.

The start wasn't good, but the end was good. It was just -- yeah, you've just got to try to calm yourself down and fight as hard as you can.

Q. You still have the weekend. (No microphone)?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: To be honest, anything's possible in links golf, especially with the weather. I think it's going to be raining tomorrow.

Look, I'm just proud of the way I fought, kind of making this cut, especially after last week. The support I had out there was unbelievable. With that start, I felt like I was letting everyone down, not just myself, but my team and the fans.

But it was just about fighting, and they helped me a long way.