By Martin Dempster

Copyright scotsman

It was just after 6.30am and an elderly gentleman, who subsequently informed me that he was from Slough, sitting next to me on a spectator bus service from Ascot Racecourse to nearby Wentworth Golf Club asked me who I was heading to watch at the BMW PGA Championship. On being told that I was actually there to work, he picked up on my accent and not only started to talk about Bob MacIntyre but, within a minute or so, was flicking through the pictures on his mobile phone to proudly show me a snap of him with the Scot from the previous day at the leafy Surrey venue. From what he had to say, he was clearly a big Bob fan and, judging from the support he received throughout the week in the $8 million Rolex Series event, the wee boy from Oban has become very popular indeed with golf fans south of the border as he prepares to make his second successive appearance in the Ryder Cup. Okay, he’s not on the same level as Rory McIlroy but, let’s face it, no-one moves the needle more on the DP World Tour and perhaps even the PGA Tour as well these days than the Northern Irishman, which is understandable when you play the game the way McIlroy does and just check out some of the shots he hit in a closing 66 on Sunday if you disagree with that opinion. In the opening two rounds, MacIntyre had Tyrrell Hatton in his group and the shouts and cheers for the Englishman were definitely louder than those for MacIntyre but not by much. “Come on Bob”, “Go on Bobby” and plain old “Bobby Mac” were being shouted by fans with distinct non-Scottish accents, which is testament to the impact MacIntyre has made on a global stage over the past couple of years. He’s become popular through the success he has achieved, notably winning twice on the PGA Tour last year but also on the strength of coming close to winning the US Open this year, which has also seen him break into the world’s top ten for the first time. It’s also down, though, to the way he plays the game and, yes, that sometimes gets him in trouble for bad language or slamming a club into the ground. Last week’s event was this correspondent’s first sighting of the left-hander in the flesh since The Open at Royal Portrush in mid-July and there was absolutely no hiding the fact that he was very relaxed indeed. Probably more so than I’ve ever seen him since he burst on to the scene when being crowned as the DP World Tour Rookie of the Year in 2019. The reason, of course, is no secret. Not when you consider he’s had another great year on the PGA Tour. And not when you take into account the fact he secured automatic qualification for that Ryder Cup, finishing second behind McIlroy in the year-long points battle on this occasion. In short, he’d well and truly earned his place at last Tuesday’s dinner hosted by Luke Donald for the 11 players – Sepp Straka was the only absentee – competing in the DP World Tour’s flagship event before joining forces next week at Bethpage Black on Long Island. Two years ago, having also got into that team under his own steam, MacIntyre’s passion for shinty was one of the main topics when he was interviewed for the first time by many English-based golf writers and, yes, he still loves talking about his No 1 sporting passion, revealing on Friday that he had turned out for Oban Celtic during a break in his schedule at the end of the FedEx Cup Play-Offs. On this occasion, a series of sitdown interviews in a side room in the media centre close to the 18th green on the West Course at Wentworth focused on him having become, in the words of McIlroy and also Tommy Fleetwood, “one of the best players in the world” and why he is heading into this encounter against the Americans as a key member of the European team. In Rome, the Scot was unbeaten in three games but, for the first time, Donald admitted last week that he hadn’t felt MacIntyre could be considered for the foursomes, hence why he played in the fourballs, teaming up with the experienced Justin Rose on each occasion and the Englishman did a brilliant job helping his younger team-mate find his feet after a tough first afternoon at Marco Simone Golf Club. There is absolutely no denying, though, that MacIntyre is heading into this contest – the 45th edition of the transatlantic tussle – as a far better all-round player, as his statistics this year in particular show, and there is a very good chance that he will be involved in the foursomes as well as the fourballs as Europe bid to land a first win on US soil since 2012. How did he play at Wentworth? Well, it may have been disappointing for him to miss what was a rare second cut, which was implemented due to a larger than normal number of players making the halfway cut, but his game was actually pretty good, especially his driving, which is mighty impressive. It was interesting to hear him say that he feels he hasn’t done all that well at Wentworth due to the number of wedges required there, admitting that remains “my Achilles’ heel” and is something he will continue to try and improve in his bid to become a major winner. Significantly, though, there was a distinct glint in his eyes as he also pointed out that Bethpage Black is a course that won’t require too many wedges into greens. Instead, it is set up much better for him due to it demanding straight driving in the first instance the long irons for approach shots. In the immediate aftermath of Rome, MacIntyre openly admitted that he didn’t know if he would get a chance to play in another Ryder Cup and there are lots of players on both teams who have discovered that it can be a one-time experience. However, he now talks about how he never wants to miss one for the rest of his career and, while playing in events like the BMW PGA Championship are important for him, on this occasion he had other things on his mind and who can really blame him for that? He’ll have an elderly gentleman from Slough cheering him on when he goes into battle against Team USA in New York and that is a great example of the impact MacIntyre has made in the game from the last Ryder Cup to this one.