Robert MacIntyre walked off the 14th green in his first round at Royal St George’s at three-over, but it didn’t feel that bad.
“I said to Mike (Thomson) when I walked off 13 or 14 that I felt like I was playing good,” he said. “Tee to green I thought I was fairly solid until late on there, when I hit two horrific wedge shots on the last two holes – but got out with pars.
“I felt like I was tough. I was looking at the leaderboards and thinking: “How am I getting close to six-under par?”
“Webb Simpson had a score of four-under this afternoon and that was incredible.
‘I just have to keep playing the way I’m playing’
“I just have to keep playing the way I’m playing. I’m due a good score and keep feeling I’m coming off the course with the worst score I could have made. Golf gets that way at times.”
MacIntyre missed a great chance to start with birdie but soon found the tougher afternoon conditions against him.
“I thought my putt was in on the first,” he said. “I was just trying to work myself into a golf tournament rather than out of a golf tournament.
“I’d watched some of the golf this morning. But some of those holes this afternoon, I didn’t have enough ammo in the bag to get there.
“The par-three 11th, I’ve hit the longest iron I’ve got, a two-iron. And it’s not even close to reaching the pin.
“I’ve then gone onto 15 and smoked driver, smoked my four-iron to get pin high. I literally didn’t have any more in the bag.”
“It’s links golf. Two over par isn’t horrific. I’m not out of it. It’s a start, that’s the way I see it.”
‘It’s a fight and a grind, but I enjoyed it’
GO, GO, GO…🚦@robert1lefty gets his 2021 #TheOpen underway
⛳🏴🏌🏼♂️😎 pic.twitter.com/bgUFfB2awH
— Bounce (@bouncespmgt) July 15, 2021
The hope is that the conditions equal themselves out for the second round.
“You’ve got to hope that it’s going to be the exact same tomorrow, a little bit calmer early on,” he said.
“This afternoon you went into the rough downwind, you had no chance. You went into the rough into the wind and you had no chance because you couldn’t get enough club on to it.
“It’s a fight and a grind, but I enjoyed every bit of it.”
‘I holed that putt out of anger’
His sole birdie came on the 16th, but the putt on the 15th was key to that.
“I hadn’t holed a putt. With wind, I struggle with momentum on the greens. If I don’t hole early, I don’t see the lines. I knocked the one in on the 15th because of rage. Hit a great tee shot and it pitched clean into a bunker.
“I hacked it out to leave a number and holed the putt out of anger. There was nothing going through my head except: hit the putt. Same on the 16th.
“When I play my best tee to green, I don’t think about one thing. I just swing the club and the ball takes off exactly where I’m aiming it.
“That’s what I’m trying to get with my putter. Go blank and hit it.”