MacIntyre ‘wants to smash up clubs’ as Scheffler wins

Caves Valley GC, Maryland, for the BMW Championship

-15 S Scheffler (US), -13 R MacIntyre (Sco), -11 M McNealy (US) -10 T Fleetwood (Eng), S Burns (US), -8 H Hall (Eng)

Selected others: -7 V Hovland (Nor), -3 R McIlroy (NI), -1 M Fitzpatrick (Eng), + 1 S Lowry (Ire)

After letting a four-shot overnight lead slip, frustrated Robert MacIntyre felt the need to “smash up my golf clubs” to lose the BMW Championship to Scottie Scheffler.

The Scot had hoped to win a third PGA Tour title but did so after going back to back bogeys and bogeying back at the fifth hole.

By the seventh, world number one Scheffler had a remarkable chip-in at the 17th to finish two clear in Maryland.

In his three-over-par round of 73, MacIntyre was unable to explain how many shots he overshot. He only managed one birdie.

The left-hander from Oban said, “I got off to a terrible start.

“I had a great time going out today. To be honest, I didn’t even anticipate being over par. I had my best interest in going out there, putting my foot down, and performing the way I have for the past few days.

Despite a few uncharacteristic errors, Open champion Scheffler put his mettle and class to the test, bringing him to 15 under for the week.

After rounds of 62, 64, and 68, MacIntyre, who finished second overall and was tied for seventh overall, was 16 under on Saturday evening.

The Scotsman chose not to comment on alleged heckling from the galleries, despite the fact that he denied being irritated by his playing partner’s consistency.

He responded, “No, I don’t know what he needs to improve.” To be honest with you, I want to go and smash up my golf clubs right now.

When Scheffler moved to within a shot of the 12th, there was still a chance for an out-of-sorts MacIntyre, who had missed a routine par putt.

A fourth bogey soon followed, but the Scotsman crashed an eight iron off the tee at the 13th to avoid the green before putting a mess in with it.

The American made a birdie move at the 15th after MacIntyre missed his attempt, but the roles were changed at the 16th.

With the ranking points that come with a £1.6 million check, MacIntyre moves up 11 spots to ninth place in the FedEx Cup rankings, tied for fourth, and earned a spot in Justin Rose’s Ryder Cup standings, along with Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, who tied for fourth, and Justin Rose.

Harry Hall, from England, placed sixth in the top 30 for the series’ climax, which will improve his chances of winning the Ryder Cup.