Confronted with an ungainly lie atop a bunker on the Open Championship, southpaw Robert MacIntyre went righty on his approach to an epic par.
Stuart Kerr/R&A/R&A by way of Getty Photographs
Robert MacIntyre’s tee shot on the 18th gap Saturday on the Open Championship would have been simply fantastic if it wasn’t for one essential truth: final week’s Scottish Open winner is a southpaw.
As he got here to the shut of his third spherical at Royal Troon, he was one over for the day and 6 over for the championship, 13 photographs behind Shane Lowry, who was nonetheless greater than an hour from treeing off.
With not a lot to lose, MacIntyre pulled driver on the par-4 that introduced two left fairway pot bunkers into play. Troon’s 18th had been one of many best all week, however a swap within the wind course, now into the breeze, meant it was the Seventh-hardest on the course early Saturday.
MacIntyre gave the massive stick a lash after which watched, helplessly, as his fade grew to become extra of reduce and drifted nearer and nearer to these two bunkers. The ball landed in-between the sand traps, kicked left and stopped within the tough, mere inches from the sand, perched excessive above it.
The lie would have been no drawback for a right-hander. However MacIntyre isn’t so lucky.
“As a left-hander, the place’s he going to face?” requested NBC announcer Terry Gannon.
Analyst Paul McGinley knew the reply.
“I don’t assume he can stand left-handed,” McGinley mentioned. “He’s going to show the membership round and simply chip it ahead.”
By the point MacIntyre bought to his ball, that’s precisely what he was inspecting.
“It’s simply a kind of dangerous breaks you get in hyperlinks golf,” McGinley mentioned.
First, he had a hybrid in his fingers, in search of a stance someplace behind the ball. However that may have ended up with him lining up approach to the fitting. Even going so far as to face within the bunker and see what sort of baseball swing he might make.
Then he grabbed an iron and flipped it the wrong way up to start out rehearsing a right-handed swing. And that’s what he did.
“Missed the bunker and you then stand up there and also you’ve bought no shot,” MacIntyre mentioned afterward. “I couldn’t even stand within the bunker and hit it. I simply thought, why not hit it right-handed?”
Then, in one thing that nearly by no means occurs in golf, MacIntyre’s dangerous break was rewarded with a very good break. He took practically a full swing with what seemed like a brief iron and caught it clear, however the ball took off proper.
“FORE!” he shouted as his ball headed for the grandstands.
However the ball went thus far proper that it missed the lengthy fescue grass, kicked off the grandstands and settled in some mild tough. He had a transparent shot to the flag with loads of inexperienced to work with from 70 yards.
“Yeah, I bought a very good little bit of luck,” he admitted later. “The one place I couldn’t go was left, so I form of aimed on the proper TV tower and simply put a swing on it. So long as I hit the membership face it was going to be alright.”
He pitched his ball to 2 toes, 7 inches. A routine 4.
At his post-round press convention, MacIntyre was requested when the final time he performed a right-handed shot was.
McGinley suspected MacIntyre had performed the normal Scottish ball and stick recreation of shinty, the place gamers swing the stick from each side.
However MacIntyre suspected this try might have been a primary.
“I might have completed one in all probability just lately, however full swipe at it? I’ve not completed one, I don’t assume, in my life,” he mentioned.
