Figure caption,

MacIntyre’s incredible sportsmanship after Spaun’s decisive putt

‘He’s got life going on’

The man from Oban also missed the cut in the US PGA in May and had finished no higher than 42nd since the Masters going into last week’s Canadian Open.

It is an event the 29-year-old has much fondness for – having won it in 2024 with his father Dougie on the bag – and his 15th place following four rounds in the 60s hinted at a timely return to form with 2026’s third major this week.

Shinnecock Hills is this year’s US Open host and is a notoriously brutal examination, not least on greens so slick and challenging they caused a befuddled Phil Mickelson to hit a moving ball during the 2018 staging.

Brooks Koepka won that week on a score of one over. Mickelson and champion Retief Goosen were the only men under par when Shinnecock was the venue in 2004.

The storied course on Long Island on the outskirts of New York is no place for a player trying to find form, then, but one man who knows his game and his character well fully expects the real MacIntyre to stand up very soon.

“I don’t think he’s got a golf issue going on at the moment, I think he’s got life going on. As Jack Nicklaus used to say, life gets in the way and you’ve got to deal with it,” mentioned former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley on a US Open media conference call.

“He’s just had a baby a few months ago, just before the Masters… it’s not derailed him, but it’s an adjustment in your life.

“He’ll settle down, he’ll figure that out, and he’ll come back again. His form has not been what we would have expected the last two or three months, and I think that’s the reason why.”

The US Open trophy is positioned on one of the greens at Shinnecock HillsImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Shinnecock Hills was renovated by the revered Coore-Crenshaw firm in 2013

McGinley – speaking alongside colleagues Rich Lerner and Brandel Chamblee, with whom he will cover the US Open for the Golf Channel – believes Shinnecock’s fast-running fairways and breezy test will suit MacIntyre.

“He’s a dogged competitor. He’s got a huge heart. There was a reason he was played down the order on the last day of the singles. We have a lot of belief in him,” added McGinley, an advisor to captain Luke Donald on both MacIntyre’s Ryder Cup appearances.

“He loves the fight. I’m a huge admirer of his game. He’s a wonderful putter, he’s won on links courses and growing up in Scotland, he’s very familiar with the kind of conditions at Shinnecock Hills.”

The set-up at Shinnecock could favour MacIntyre, who is an indifferent 46th in driving accuracy on the PGA Tour this season.

World number one Scottie Scheffler made a scouting trip to Long Island a few weeks ago and was surprised at the relative width, by US Open standards, of the fairways.

The rough beyond the cut grass is ominous, but the Open champion believes the real test in this US Open will be on the slippery greens.

It fits the profile of former champions at Shinnecock, with Corey Pavin – a short hitter who dazzled with a wedge and a putter in his hands – winning there in 1995 and Goosen putting with astonishing touch and nerve to win in 2004.

MacIntyre will be buoyed by his Canadian Open performance but will he will need all of his noted short-game prowess and a cool head to prosper this week and go one better than the glorious near-miss of 12 months ago.

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