Robert MacIntyre crowned Scotland's
Amateur Golfer of Year
Robert MacIntyre has been
handed the perfect lift ahead of this week’s World Amateur Team
Championship in Mexico by being crowned Scottish Amateur Golfer of
the Year.
Thanks to finishing as the
leading Scot (13th), at both male and female level, on the World Amateur
Golf Ranking (WAGR) at the 9 September cut off point, left-hander
MacIntyre has secured the coveted accolade.
With a record-equalling eight
male Scots regularly populating the top 100 on WAGR this year, the
Glencruitten player held off the challenge of GB and I Walker Cup winner
Grant Forrest (19th) and Connor Syme (23rd), the Australian Amateur
champion, to come
out on top.
While the 20-year-old began
his domestic campaign with a narrow victory in the Scottish Champion of
Champions at Leven Golfing Society, it was later in the season when he
truly clicked into gear.
MacIntyre. pictured right, became the third
Scot in the last three years to reach The Amateur Championship final,
narrowly losing out to England’s Scott Gregory, before helping Scotland
retain the European Amateur Team Championship title in Sweden. As well
as earning GB&I
honours at The St Andrews Trophy, the Scot also finished fourth in the
European Amateur Championship in Estonia and reached the quarter-finals
of the Scottish Amateur.
MacIntyre, coached by George
Boswell, follows in the spike marks of the last two winners of the
award, Bradley Neil (2014) and Ewen Ferguson (2015).
“I’ve just pipped Grant to the
post, so it’s always nice to get another accomplishment like this,”
said MacIntyre of his award, having reached his highest ever world
ranking.
“Although I did well at Leven,
it was a slow start to my year. But, overall, it’s been good and late
on in the season has been really good. Reaching The Amateur final was a
nice week, even if I was gutted to lose in the final. The European
Amateur a few
weeks ago was just as good, because it’s strokeplay and you want to
prove yourself at that level.”
With MacIntyre, Forrest and
Syme all placed inside the top 30 in the world, the trio have travelled
to Mexico for the World Amateur Team Championship with confidence. Two
years ago, Scotland finished inside the top-10 in the battle for the
Eisenhower Trophy,
while famously won the event in Australia in 2008.
Conditions are expected to be
humid at the Mayakoba El Camaleón and Iberostar Playa Paraíso venues,
but MacIntyre is hopeful the Scots can handle the heat.
“I think we travel with
confidence,” he noted, ahead of the start of the four-round event on
Wednesday. “As an individual, you approach every week to try and win.
It’s no different in a team event. If we all play well, we won’t be far
away. We’re high
in the rankings, and if we play well, then great, hopefully we’ll be
close.
“But you just don’t know in a
team event, with two scores counting out of three. You’ve got to hope we
all play well and see what happens at the end of it. The courses don’t
look as demanding, perhaps compared to links courses, a wee bit shorter
than normal.
Overall, it looks awesome.”
MacIntyre has also benefitted
from Scottish Golf’s partnership with Bounce Sports to gain experience
in Challenge Tour events in Scotland and Ireland this year, missing the
cut by a solitary shot on each occasion.
“It’s been unbelievable just
getting the chance to play in them,” he said. “But it just shows when
you don’t play well, you’ve got no chance. I didn’t play well in Ireland
in the first round, then I was flying in the second round before
stumbling. The
standard on the Challenge Tour is superb.
Labels: Amateur Men
