They say that the absence makes the heart more confronted. But Robert Macintyre did not need a two -year exile of Augusta National to make the Ravidness of his romance with the Masters more special.
Because it was a relationship of love to the head and at the forefront. Having admired from afar as a child with star eyes, Macintyre was able to revel in the warm embrace of the emblematic course when he was finally closer to his beginnings in 2021.
Where so many others had been chewed and spitting, shown the ruthless and sometimes cruel side of this Georgian beauty, the Oban golfer enjoyed an unforgettable weekend, by winning a 21-birdies tournament on his way to equality for the 12th and on an invitation to return for a second date.
Sparks stole again 12 months later when the Scot drew attention with a last round of 69 to record another comfortable top-25, although the romance flowered elsewhere while Scottie Scheffler made his game and was announced as the new Papa of Sport.
The sorrow started in 2023 when Macintyre found himself outside the top 50 of the world and therefore did not receive an invitation to the ball.
Without being discouraged, he focused on the tour of another massive career objective, successfully qualified for the Ryder Cup of this year and to find a new level of renown after saying that two and a half points out of three in the triumph of the Americans.
Bob Macintyre plays his starting blow in the fourth hole in the third round of the Masters 2022
Macintyre splashes a bunker during training training before his master’s degree in 2021
Macintyre is convinced that his game is suitable for the unique challenge of Augusta National
Supported by the realization, Macintyre succeeded in claiming a PGA Cherry Tour card, but his first difficulties on the American circuit also saw him release qualification positions for the masters of last year.
With his golf references under a meticulous examination for the first time – and Macintyre openly admitting the pain in the country while he was fighting to adapt to a more isolated life in the United States – he responded in a majestic way, winning the Canada Open with his father on the bag, then adding an emotional scotter title to the opening a few weeks later.
Huge vouchers and high praises cried, but it was the guarantee of a return to the Masters – as well as the start to all the other major events that the game has to offer – which will have really caused its juice when it took stock of its occasional pensions at the house of Lorn.
In many ways, the third 28 -year -old trip to Augusta will already feel different. Where before the buzz and the accumulation and which lead Magnolia Lane will undoubtedly have undermined a little of the objective of the oban man – he spoke last week of “nervous energy” that he had to manage during his first appearances – this year, his state of mind will be narrowed.
Behind all the bites of his happy, delighted, he will always be in the world’s media, deep inside Macintyre knows that he is a real competitor.
To start, he arrives as a world No17, his breakthrough season last year having catapulted him among the play players of the game.
His two summer triumphs in Canada and the north of Berwick were followed by new solid projections in the Play-Offs of the Fedex Cup and the closing events of the DP global tour to put more than 4.5 million pounds sterling for the work of his year.
It was really an incredibly high season of success.
As he admitted himself last week, speaking on the DP World Tour website, being forced to look at the masters from afar for two years has only been used to motivate him.
He said, “It’s not good when it’s your favorite place. But it makes you work harder and it makes you concentrate more when you are on the golf course.
“Obviously, the two victories last year made it happen. I can’t wait to come back to be honest.
With only positive memories on which to rely and a course that is clearly suitable for his eye, it’s just that there is such an excitement around Macintyre’s return to the first major of the year.
Add the fact that Augusta is used to producing left -handed winners, with Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson and Mike Weir having represented six of the 12 victories between 2003 and 2014, and there are solid reasons to believe that Macintyre can really imitate the success of Sandy Lyle in 1988 and become the second champion of the Masters of Sandy Lyle and become the champion of Masters Scotland.
Macintyre is very proud of his previous efforts and should be the design of the course plays in his hands, saying: “ to do this (21 birdies) during your first masters is not normal. I have the impression that my game is suitable for this golf course.
“The way I play golf combinations like this golf course wants you to play golf. I think it’s just the form of shooting and having to move it in both directions. I mainly discolored it for a left -handed, which with modern equipment is much easier.
“The most difficult holes and some of the funky holes have set up for a left-hander for a bad blow.”
This year sees a record left -in -law on the field, and it is Macintyre which is the shortest price of them, leading Akshay Bhatia, Mickelson, Brian Harman, Joe Highsmith, Watson and Weir in bets.
It arrives this year with a simmer shape, bubbling fairly well under the surface to keep it out of excessive expectations or distractions of the media, but confident in the shape of its game.
After a naturally slow start to the season from Hawaii to Dubai, then back in California, he pulled four rounds in the 1960s at the Rowdy Waste Management Phoenix open to equality for sixth.
A missed cup in Torrey Pines and a two -week break followed before an 11th stable in a high -level field at Arnold Palmer Invitational, then to ninth place in the players’ championship, his first time to cut the “Fifth Major” of the game.
Its most recent release occurred in the Porsche Singapore Open, disturbed by the weather two weeks ago, where it endured the worst of the conditions in a round opening of 73 before assaulting with a second round 64, the lowest score of the day.
The shortened event at 54 holes, his tie for the ninth was a respectable finish in the circumstances and put it in place for another short break at home in Oban before taking master preparations with a training camp in Isleworth, Florida.
Declaring herself satisfied with his performance levels this year, Macintyre said: “I think it’s just the consistency of my game that was much better. By driving the ball, by hitting more fairways, the percentages are increasing, which makes life much easier to hit the Greens.
“All the statistics of the snowball of this, although the one is not as good. But to lock, the statistics were far away, much better than last year.
During a session of questions and answers on social networks last month, Macintyre was invited to think that he was ahead of the game or behind where he thought he would be at this stage of his career. He replied, “Before I thought I would be. I dreamed of playing at this level, but I never thought I would arrive here. Now we are here, we don’t stop.
Having already proven that dreams can come true, something really magical could be on the horizon if the stars align it this weekend. It would be a love story to move all.