Let young Scots chase their dreams, pleads Ryder Cup player Bob MacIntyre

Bob MacIntyre of Scotland and team Europe arrives to the Cavalieri Hotel prior to the 2023 Ryder Cup.

Bob MacIntyre is hoping his appearance in this week’s Ryder Cup in Rome will prove that the dreams of young Scots shouldn’t be killed off just because they don’t live in one of the big cities.

The 27-year-old, who is the first Scot to play on one of the biggest stages in sport since Stephen Gallacher’s appearance on home soil at Gleneagles in 2014, cut his golfing teeth at Glencruitten Golf Club in his hometown of Oban.

As a young amateur, MacIntyre had to be driven hundreds of miles by either his parents, Carol and Dougie, or family friends to play in events or attend national coaching sessions and occasionally missed out on some big tournaments due purely to the cost factor.

The left-hander is the first to admit it wasn’t an easy journey on his road to Rome, where he’s teaming up with the likes of Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm in the 44th Ryder Cup, but, based on what he’s achieved so far, reckons other aspiring young Scots should be allowed to keep dreaming big.

“It’s massive for me,” he replied to being asked what it meant to him to be representing his beloved Oban in the transatlantic tussle, which starts on Friday at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club on the outskirts of the Italian capital. “The support I have had from family, friends, the golf club, everything has been huge.

“The amount of people I have spoken to, kids that I have spoken to, who have been told don’t chase that dream, you’ll never do it, you won’t achieve that. I’d say that is Scottish-wide. If you are from certain areas. It is easier to achieve it or you have more of a chance to achieve it if you are from certain areas of the country. Fact. It doesn’t matter the sport. From the local areas, outside of the big cities, it is harder to make something happen just with support and funding.

“I was lucky I had a family that supported me from the start. My dad is sporty and knew the ability I had within other sports. I didn’t really pick golf. Golf picked me from where I lived. I lived on a golf course.

“I have just started my journey, but I want to do something that can show people that it doesn’t matter where the hell you are from, you can do what you want so long as you have the right support and the right commitment to what you are doing.”

MacIntyre, who secured an automatic spot in Luke Donald’s side, is used to being in a team environment through his other sporting passion, turning out whenever he can for Oban Celtic, the shinty side managed by his dad.

“Obviously, I am still daft enough to do the team stuff and it’s massive for me, but this is going to be slightly different,” he said, smiling. “Not the same style of team room because it’s still an individual game. I can’t really save their back. In shinty, you can read the game. If a team-mate misses a tackle, you can always cover them.

“Golf is individual, but the team side is going to be just supporting someone for anything. Anything to help them perform better is what you have to do. They will do the same for me. If I need something, or to ask for advice, anything. Try and pick someone up if they are down.”

MacIntyre is adding his name to a long list of Scots to have played in the Ryder Cup, including, of course, Sam Torrance, who delivered one of the event’s iconic images as he raised his arm in celebration after holing the winning putt on the 18th green at The Belfry in 1985 before tasting victory as a captain there as well in 2001.

“I’ve not really thought so much about that bit of it,” admitted MacIntyre, “but, when I was sitting in my room one night at Wentworth (during the BMW PGA Championship a fortnight ago) and reflecting, even back to the Monday visit to Rome, I’m realising I’m in a team with Rory, and Rahm, and Rosey [Justin Rose].

“Guys that you have watched on TV for years and looked up to. Yes you are trying to beat them nine times out of ten, but for one week, I am part of a family and it is massive for me in my career. Hopefully, I can do something special within the week.

“I knew the Ryder Cup was huge. It’s massive. But I didn’t realise how massive and I may not even realise fully until the week is finished when I sit back and look and think: That was enormous.

“I’m just trying to take it in my stride as much as I can, just get to know guys, almost learn from some of them. Some of the best players in the world are in that team room and they are doing some great things. I am just trying to build my career. I might get there slower than them, but my goal is to get there.”

After Mcllroy had finished birdie-birdie to deny MacIntyre after he’d set the clubhouse target in the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club in July, he embraced the Scot and said ‘sorry’. The pair will now be hoping to be embracing again as winning team-mates on Sunday night as Europe bid to make home advantage count again, with the last US win on this side of the Atlantic having come 30 years ago.

Referring once again to the European team’s recent get-together in Rome, MacIntyre said: “When we all arrived and everyone was saying hello to everyone, you felt as if you were part of a team. I’ve always said you go through stages playing alongside certain players and you get welcomed. You feel as if you are being welcomed into a certain group.

“I played with Ernie [Els] when I first came out on Tour. Then I played with Tommy [Fleetwood] at Hillside. That’s when Tommy started speaking to me more often. Then Patrick Reed in Turkey. He started talking to me more.

“You earn respect every step you take and I am wary of the fact you have to earn it. Once you make the team, I feel you have earned the biggest respect from the likes of the Rorys and Rahms where I am now a team-mate of theirs at a Ryder Cup.”

The Scot smiled when it was pointed out that both McIlroy and Rahm had both offered gushing praise after he’d taken a huge step towards making this team after producing a wonder shot at the final hole in the aforementioned Genesis Scottish Open in East Lothian.

“It’s massive to hear, but it’s easy to talk words,” he said. “The way I see respect is the way someone meets you and greets you. When I meet someone head on is when you are going to get the full face value. Rory and Jon have been brilliant with me. It was like I was part of them (at the team bonding session in Rome).”

Will the boy from Oban be offering to pick some music for the team room this week, having driven down Augusta National for the first time for his Masters debut in 2021 with a tune from The Gunna Sound Ceilidh Band blaring inside his courtesy car before departing that week to the sound of Baccara’s Yes Sir, I Can Boogie?

“I don’t know,” he said, smiling once again. “I’ll sit back at the start and watch it all unfold. I’ll assess the dressing room, as they say! Then we’ll work our way in, but I’m sure if it all goes to plan, there will be a few ceilidh tunes at the end.”