According to former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley, Robert MacIntyre’s win would not come as a surprise and his fearless mindset might help him win one of the top four.
Ireland’s McGinley, who has developed into one of the game’s most astute analysts, believes that the Scotsman’s success over the past two years has made him a top player.
Last July, MacIntyre, 28, won the Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club in a late-season performance after putting his father Dougie on the winning team for the PGA Tour’s Canadian Open.
A major is not that big of a leap for him, McGinley said to BBC Sport Scotland, “With big titles behind them and strong fields ahead,” he said.
He is undoubtedly in the elite group of people who are regarded as winning a major, despite the fact that it didn’t take place at Augusta (MacIntyre missed the cut).
It wouldn’t come as a surprise if he did that, to be honest. It would have been a significant increase two years ago. However, he has essentially closed the game’s biggest players.
He has a “swashbuckling style,” he claims. He doesn’t play with a lot of apprehension. You’ll want to take into account him as a potential winner in every major.
McGinley can see similarities between Danny Willett and MacIntyre’s development, which was highlighted at a Legends Tour event held at Apes Hill in Barbados and was hosted by former Masters champion Ian Woosnam.
Willett, who had won the Green Jacket, was regarded as a surprise winner because he mostly played golf on the European course.
MacIntyre is 20th in the world and typically flies by the wayside when major winner predictions are made.
However, he also contributed 212 points of three matches to help Europe reclaim the Ryder Cup in Rome in 2023, and he did so with two victories last year.
You don’t walk onto the range or into a tournament in a tight spot and suddenly have this incredible belief that you need to win a major, which I firmly believe in.
You can only have stepping stones where your confidence has been built and your game is being validated by winning and performing in special circumstances, and MacIntyre has that. Before winning at Augusta, Guillaumet had it.
“I believe MacIntyre has a strong belief that he is moving in that direction,” he said.
McGinley is confident that he can compete at Augusta, where he placed 12th on his debut in 2021 and placed 23rd the following year.
He thinks the Open Championship, where he has twice placed in the top 10, could be his best chance.
He won the Renaissance’s links course. You’d have to believe that he might struggle to win an Open if he were to grow up on the edges of Scotland in the wind.
“And he played so well the year before, when Rory McIlroy just beat him at the Scottish.
When McGinley plays at one of the Legends Tour’s most glamorous events, which was formerly the European Seniors Tour, on Friday at Apes Hill, he’ll make a rare competitive appearance.
He has low expectations for a field that includes Stephen Gallacher, a recent DP World Tour player, and nine Ryder Cup players. Both Michael Campbell and Shaun Micheel, the former US Open champion in 2005, are on the field.
“It was a great experience playing golf, despite having won two tournaments last year. The 2014 Ryder Cup captain said, “I just have so many other things going on that’s taking me away from playing.”
You simply don’t show up and fight, which is what I expect. Tiger Woods, the best player we’ve ever seen, struggled even then when he tried to play for nothing but the majors two years ago.
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Source: BBC
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