Working Class

From MENA TOUR WINNER to RACE TO DUBAI CONTENDER, Robert MacIntyre’s bright future is a product of his Scottish roots

- John Huggan

In deference to his mother, carol, the name that has made regular appearances on European Tour leader boards the past few months is “Robert MacIntyre.” But to everyone else, the 23-year-old who already is Scotland’s greatest all-time left-handed golfer—a low bar, admittedly—is “Bob.” “Bob from Oban,” that is.

Just as the superstar that Arnold Palmer became was forever the working-class boy from Latrobe, Pa., MacIntyre’s soundness of character, inherent good nature and solid upbringing are all inextricably linked with his hometown, a picturesque ferry port with a population of about 8,500 on the western edge of the Scottish Highlands. MacIntyre’s inventive shot-making—most recently witnessed with a driver off the deck played at last month’s Italian Open that had social media buzzing—is to a large extent a product of growing up at the local course, an eccentrically contoured par-62 layout measuring 4,471 yards.

“I love the way Phil Mickelson plays. He puts everything on the line, and that’s how I try to do it,” MacIntyre says. “But my creativity stems from playing at Glencruitten. It is short. It is tight. It is up-and-down mountains. You never have a straightforward shot from the middle of the fairway. You might be in the middle of the fairway, but there is a hill to go ’round. It’s a place where I learned every type of shot: low, high, hooking, fading.”