Robert MacIntyre “never really had his A game” during his impactful first trip to the USA this year, but now he is dialling in his irons, “look out”, says coach David Burns.
Burns is the swing coach for both of Scotland’s two new stars, MacIntyre and Calum Hill. But it’s the impact of MacIntyre with his high finish in the Masters last month which is making the most waves for the Kingsfield teaching pro.
Burns predicted last year that MacIntyre would be a world’s top-50 player and thinks that the Oban lefty hasn’t touched the top end of his potential even yet.
‘He was struggling a bit’
“To be honest, I think Bob did just okay in America,” said Burns ahead of MacIntyre’s fifth major, the PGA at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course this week. “He made cuts, and he’s done that in all the majors so far.
“But he’s never really had his A game, even by his own admission. During the eight-week stint about halfway through, I went across and he was struggling a bit. Even at Sawgrass at the Players he struggled badly.
“Fortunately we had time then to get things done and when he went to the Matchplay, that was the catalyst – going head to head with top guys, like Dustin Johnson.
“When he’d beaten Kevin Na on the first day and he was playing Johnson the next, the night before he was really buzzing, just couldn’t wait. I thought it was great he was like that.”
The Matchplay was important, added Burns, because it gave him leeway on the course.
“The timing was great. His golf was improving in practice, but the Matchplay gave him the chance. Even if he hit a destructive one it wouldn’t be the end of the world, it would just be one hole.
“The schedule worked out well for us, and we all saw what happened at Augusta.”
‘You thought geez-o, that’s some player’
Burns was first approached by MacIntyre just before he turned pro in 2017, but he was well aware of him before that.
“I was and still am one of the coaches for Stevie Gallacher’s Foundation. I first heard of Bob shooting three 66s at the Roxburghe at the Scottish Boys in 2013,” he recalled. “You thought geez-o, that’s some player.
“A couple of his pals recommended he give me a call. He sent me a text saying “It’s Bob the lefthander from Glencruitten. I’m the Scottish Amateur champion, can I see you for a couple of hours?”
“He came through with his Dad, that was before he played the Walker Cup, and it’s gone from there. To be honest, I didn’t like his technique much at first, but obviously he was a great player.
‘I thought, the sky’s the limit’
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“I thought to have achieved what he’s done, with a technique that I considered wouldn’t cut in the pro game? That really excited me.
“I thought, if I can get his technique where we want it to be, the sky’s the limit. That’s pretty much how it’s panned out.”
Since then, Bob has improved “in every part of his game”.
“He’s predominantly a ‘feel’ player,” continues Burns. “He hits the ball a long way for his size – a long way through the air, which is crucial.
“His set-up with the driver wasn’t quite right sometimes in his first year in tour. But it’s better now, the driver became the best club in the bag.
“Recently his irons weren’t so good. But we made changes and at the Belfry he said he has his numbers back and he’s pin high again. When he’s doing that, look out.”
MacIntyre will have a reunion with someone from that Walker Cup at Los Angeles Country Club at Kiawah over the first two rounds.
The Scot has been drawn with the big-hitting Cameron Champ, who he beat and halved with in two singles meetings during that weekend in 2017.