At that moment, MacIntyre could have easily turned to his playing partners, Tommy Fleetwood and John Rahm, and expressed his frustration by saying, ‘I’ve had enough, guys, I’m out.’
However, he instead summoned the determination not only to regain his form but also to start mending the issues at hand.
“My caddy, Mike [Burrow], managed to get through to me, helping me see that I hadn’t played that poorly despite the high scores,” MacIntyre shared.
“Once we took a moment to calm down, the goal shifted to breaking 90, then aiming for 80, and we gradually began to hit some quality shots.”
Nine over turned into eight. Then it dropped to seven. A birdie at hole 15 came just as the cut line adjusted to six over.
With hope of extending his competition week on the horizon, MacIntyre blasted his drive over the burn at hole 16 and emerged with one more stroke in hand.
A successful up-and-down at hole 17, followed by a par on the final hole, wrapped it up perfectly as he exhaled and looked upward while making his way to the recorder’s tent.
“A year ago, I would have packed up and left in my car,” reflected MacIntyre. “But my mindset has been excellent these last 12-15 weeks.”
“I’ve got nothing to lose now. My weather app indicates heavy rain this afternoon, so I’ll go all out and see where that leads me.”
Two other local contenders find themselves in a similar position after Calum Scott and Ewan Ferguson both managed commendable performances earlier in the day.
Ferguson, going out first in the gentler conditions, clinched a birdie on 18, grinding it out to a solid 73 for a five-over total.
Scott also secured a birdie during the closing stretch, finishing with a 75 to position himself as the leading Scot and the top amateur with a score of four-over.
“The Silver Medal would be a great goal,” said the 20-year-old from Nairn. “But I believe that with two strong scores, we can climb that leaderboard.”
