THE most encouraging thing about Robert MacIntyre’s final round performance at the BMW Championship was how angry he was in the immediate aftermath.
He began the day with a four-shot lead but quickly saw it disappear after a dreadful start. To his eternal credit, he kept plugging away and was still in the contest until Scottie Scheffler holed that outrageous chip on the 71st hole.
On a day when most players broke par, MacIntyre shot a 73 and there was steam coming out of his ears when he walked off the 18th green – and that can only be a good sign for the battles that lie ahead.
He said: “Right now I want to go and smash my golf clubs to be honest with you.” We can all relate to those feelings.
MacIntyre won twice on the PGA Tour in 2024, at the Canadian Open and in emotional fashion at the Scottish Open. He will not be happy that he hasn’t added to that tally in 2025 but he finished second at the US Open and he looked Scheffler in the eye at the BMW and will believe that although the American got the better of him this time he has the game to beat him in the future. He would love nothing more than to face Scheffler in the Ryder Cup singles.
MacIntyre was also the victim of some verbal abuse from a partisan American gallery but he took it all in his stride and took great satisfaction in silencing them with his golf.
It means that in successive weeks we saw European golfers throw away golden opportunities to win FedEx Cup playoff tournaments after Tommy Fleetwood came up short yet again, this time at the FedEx St Jude Classic, as he continues to search for that elusive first victory on American soil.
(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)
But I can assure you that European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald will be licking his lips at the prospect of facing the USA at Bethpage Black next month.
While Tommy Fleetwood failed to win in Memphis, he saved it for an emotional and well-deserved success at the Tour Championship. And, of course, fellow countryman Justin Rose came through to win the FedEx St Jude in a playoff. Remember that the veteran of six Ryder Cups only lost The Masters in a playoff to Rory McIlroy in April.
Rose has now climbed to 11th in the world rankings, having started the year in 47th place.
And those rankings make happy reading if you are a European.
Rory McIlroy (second), MacIntyre (eighth), Fleetwood (10th), Rose (11th), Ludvig Aberg (14th), Viktor Hovland (15th), Shane Lowry (21st) and Tyrrell Hatton (24th) are all riding high.
A look at the elite field of 30 who made it to the Tour Championship also makes happy reading for Donald. Nine Europeans teed it up in the season finale, with McIlroy (second), Rose (fourth) and Fleetwood (fifth) all flying high. And it was Fleetwood who won.
I would like to single out Harry Hall, an English golfer who quietly goes about his business and has one of the best short games on the PGA Tour. He made it to East Lake and will hope that he has done enough to make the European team.
In 25 starts he has made 22 cuts, with five top-10 finishes, including tied eighth at The Sentry, tied sixth at the Charles Schwab Challenge and sixth at the BMW. There have been 14 top 25s. Hall has a fabulous temperament and he has caught McIlroy’s eye.
The world number two said: “I played with Harry in his first start as a pro at the Dunhill Links a few years ago. I know him a little bit. He is a really nice player, great rhythm to his golf swing, and he’s sort of done it a different way. He went over to UNLV (University of Nevada-Las Vegas) and did it that way.
“He’s become a very consistent player, so we’ll see what happens.”
That is without taking into account Jon Rahm, who has just been crowned LIV’s Golf individual champion for the second successive year. Although he went through the season without a win on the rebel tour, he has never finished outside the top 10. No matter what you think about LIV, that is a remarkable level of consistency. Remember, too, that Hatton is ranked 24th in the world despite playing most of his golf with LIV, for which he receives no ranking points.
Donald will also surely be encouraged by the late-season form of former US Open champion Matthew Fitzpatrick. After a woeful run of form, the Sheffield golfer has recently rediscovered something approaching his best golf and narrowly missed out on East Lake, finishing in 34th place in the FedEx Cup standings. He has further put down a marker of his intention to make the European team by immediately flying across the Atlantic and returning to the DP World Tour.
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