Robert MacIntyre admits the Scottish Open will present a different challenge as defending champion but hopes to manage expectation to triumph on home soil once again.
The Scot’s emotional win in North Berwick was one of the best sporting moments of 2024, and he is back at the Renaissance Club to defend his title.
Macintyre fulfilled a long-held ambition to win the tournament he valued above most others, and said “the pressure is off” in some ways, but he has to deal with the high hopes and hype around him this week.
“It is a bit different,” he told STV.
“Obviously, I’ve got it in the bag now. I’ve won the one that I was chasing, outside the major championships.
“The Scottish Open, as a Scotsman, is the one that you want to win.
“But it feels different that the pressure is off in that sense of it, but the expectation now is through the roof.
“I need to manage that now, and it’s a slightly different thing to manage, but I’m here this week to prepare as well as I can and try and execute the shots as best I can.
“Come Sunday, hopefully you’ve got a chance again.
“It would be special [to win again]. It would be unbelievable.
“But it would be a different emotion because last year, I don’t know how I would top that other than winning The Open.
“To do that last year… I don’t know if anything’s going to top it.
“I had so many people supporting me, family and friends, and obviously the majority of the crowd were wanting me to win.”
Visitors to the Renaissance Club this week will see a 30-foot billboard celebrating the home-grown champion, and he has already been surrounded by autograph hunters at the course who are eager to grab a moment with MacIntyre.
He conceded it was an unusual situation to be in, as a stand-out player in a field that includes stars like Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, but is doing what he can to make time for people even as he turns his focus to competiting.
“It’s completely different from what I’m used to,” MacIntyre said. “I’m a guy who tries to kind of live on the outskirts quietly. You come here and it is a bit of mayhem.
“It’s part of the gig. I remember being a young kid watching at Loch Lomond, so for me, if you can’t get to everyone, you get the kids, and that’s what I try to do.
“You can’t please everyone but I’ll try my best to do as much as I can and just go and enjoy the week.”
The Scot has taken a huge boost in confidence from narrowly finishing as runner-up at the US Open to JJ Spaun, and says he now knows he has what it takes to win a major. “
It’s huge,” he said. “I now know that I can do it.
“I know that given the chance, giving everything and playing well, I can win a major. I came as close as you possibly can without winning it. It’s just a massive confidence boost to know that under the biggest of pressures, you can still play golf.”
He’ll have another chance at The Open Championship at Royal Portrush next week but his immediate priority is making his mark in North Berwick again. pundits have predicted a low-scoring tough competition in the sunny weather but MacIntyre says the course is deceptively difficult and could pose plenty of problems.
“If it’s reasonably breezy as it is just now, I don’t see it being as low-scoring as some people think
“Yes, you’ve got chances when you’re on the fairways, but this is as fast and as firm as I’ve seen it when you miss the fairway. If you hit it on the first cut, then it is bounding on.
“So if you miss it, good luck controlling your golf ball.
“That’s the way you want it for a Scottish Open. You want it to be a test of golf, and the guy who plays the best golf over the week will walk away the winner.”
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