THE life of a golfer can often be an exercise in exploring uncharted territory. “I said to myself, ‘where am I actually going here?’,” said Robert MacIntyre with a statement that sounded like something this correspondent would mutter after yet another ruinous thrash at a tee-shot.
MacIntyre’s direction of travel recently took him to the Middle East and it proved to be a highly profitable excursion as he claimed a maiden title in just his second appearance in the paid ranks at the MENA Tour’s Kuwait Open. “I didn’t actually know where Kuwait was on the map,” added the Oban left-hander with a chuckle.
MacIntyre continues to put his name on the golfing map, though, after a fairly inauspicious start to his professional career. In his first round as a new recruit from the amateur scene, he posted a 78 in the Jordan AYLA Golf Championship.
The subsequent salvage operation just about earned him a chapter in the Book of Argyll Shipwrecks. MacIntyre bounced back in that 54-hole event and eventually finished tied third after closing with a course-record 64 before riding the wave to Kuwait and coming out on top a fortnight later. For his last five rounds on the third-tier circuit, he was a combined 25-under.
“Opening with a 78 was hardly the best way to start but I had to put it behind me and get on with it,” reflected the former Walker Cup player.
“There will be weeks when it will go for you and weeks when it doesn’t. That’s just golf. Looking back, it was perhaps a good thing that it started so badly. You’re thinking, ‘well, it can’t get any worse’. And things certainly improved after that.
“In that Kuwait event, I didn’t know I was leading until my second shot on the final hole. At that point I found out I had two shots to play with so I could just cosy it home.
"It was my first win since I won on the US college circuit in 2015 not long after I’d won the Scottish Amateur title. I couldn’t have asked for a better start as a pro. But it’s just a start and there’s plenty of hard work to do.”
Competing on the MENA Tour is one thing. Earning a place on the main European Tour is quite another bur MacIntyre will head to stage two of the qualifying school in Spain next week with a spring in his step after a morale-bolstering spell.
With a solid support network behind him, aided by the canny nous of Scottish management company, Bounce, MacIntyre can put all his focus in to his golf as he looks to earn a solid foothold on the ladder.
“There are things in place for worst case scenarios or for me getting some form of tour card,” said MacIntyre, who was recently made an honorary member of Glencruitten and remains grateful for the backing he has had from his home club.
"My management team has organised everything recently and it's all ran like clockwork. I couldn’t have done it without that. Knowing where I’m going and when I’m going is a huge help.
“It’s all down to me now to do it. I’m pretty confident that if I play like I know I can I’ll be out at the qualifying school for both stage two and the final.”
With his fellow rookies, Connor Syme and Liam Johnston, showing early promise and the likes of Bradley Neil and Grant Forrest going well on the Challenge Tour, MacIntyre is keen to keep the good times rolling.
"There is a snowball effect and when somebody is doing well, you feed off that and it gives you the spur and the belief," he said.
"There have been some encouraging signs and let's hope it continues."
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