By Martin Dempster - The Scotsman
Luke
Donald, the European Ryder Cup captain, was confident US Open runner-up
Bob MacIntyre had a big performance in him in the battle to be on his
team at Bethpage Black after closely watching his stats this season.
MacIntyre,
who made a winning debut in the biennial match under Donald’s captaincy
in Rome in 2023, jumped into one of the six automatic spots up for
grabs on Long Island in September after finishing second to J.J. Spaun
in the season’s third major at Oakmont last month.
The eye-catching effort came at the perfect time for MacIntyre, who will
now be looking to cement his position in the standings when he defends
the Genesis Scottish Open title this week before heading back to Royal
Portrush, where he tied for sixth on his major debut six years ago, for
the The 153rd Open next week.
Bob MacIntyre is congratulated by Jon Rahm after winning his singles in the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome | Getty Images
“Very impressed,” said Donald, speaking ahead of the first of those
events at The Renaissance Club, of how MacIntyre has performed since
Italy, where he leaned on Justin Rose in his opening match before going
on to pick up two-and-a-half points from three, including a singles
success against Wyndham Clark, the US Open champion at the time.
“I
think he's really adapted his game to the US. Obviously, when you make
that transition from playing mostly in Europe to playing over there, it
is more difficult. The fields are deeper. It's harder. But he was still
very consistent and I was watching his stats quite a lot.
“Even
from when he qualified in Rome to where he was before the second place
in the US Open, his stats were quite a bit better. He's been very
consistent. As I said, it's harder to break out in the US and win
tournaments. He already won twice last year. He won in Canada and won
here. “As I said, I saw the improvement in statistics and it was only a
matter of time before he had a really, really good week and he almost
pulled it off.”
Does Donald, who is bidding to join Tony Jacklin as the only European
captain to win home and away against the Americans, see a maturity in
MacIntyre, both as a player and a person?
“Well,
hopefully the Ryder Cup in Rome had a positive effect on him,” added
the world No 1. “I've seen it go both ways. Sometimes people play Ryder
Cups and they understand that maybe they're not quite good enough to be a
part of what a Ryder Cup represents.
“But
I think Bob, even though he didn't quite have his best game on Friday
and was really fighting to find it, especially on the greens, he got a
lot out of it. Two and a half points out of three. I think it helped him
really grow as a golfer and give him the belief that he could perform
with the very best.”
Rory
McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka
are the others in automatic Ryder Cup spots heading into this week’s $9
million Rolex Series event.
European captain Luke Donald and his players, including Bob MacIntyre,
pose with the Ryder Cup following their win in Rome in 2023 | Andrew Redington/Getty Images
Rasmus
Hojgaard, Ludvig Aberg, Justin Rose, Viktor Hovland, Thomas Detry and
Matt Wallace are next on the points list as the qualifying race enters
the closing stretch, with Donald set to announce his team on 1
September.
“Two
massive weeks, the two biggest weeks left really before qualification
ends,” said Donald of the Genesis Scottish Open and The Open. “There's
obviously five or six weeks left to go. These are big weeks against the
strongest fields so you want to see the top guys play well and there's
obviously going to be some guys that are pretty much staked a claim for
their place already in the team. But there's a few spots definitely open
and these weeks are big for those guys.”
Is
he braced for some sleepless nights towards the end of the
qualification period? “Maybe,” he said with a smile. “The week of the
Ryder Cup will be plenty of sleepless nights. I think having gone
through it already once, I feel pretty comfortable where we are with the
preparation.
“We
have a great team around us. We're in a good spot right now, so not too
many sleepless nights, just really watching and seeing how the guys
perform.”
