Confronted with an ungainly lie atop a bunker on the Open Championship, southpaw Robert MacIntyre went righty on his solution to an epic par.
Stuart Kerr/R&A/R&A by way of Getty Photos
Robert MacIntyre’s tee shot on the 18th gap Saturday on the Open Championship would have been simply nice if it wasn’t for one essential reality: 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 change within the wind path, now into the breeze, meant it was the Seventh-hardest on the course early Saturday.
MacIntyre gave the large stick a lash after which watched, helplessly, as his fade turned 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 suppose he can stand left-handed,” McGinley stated. “He’s going to show the membership round and simply chip it ahead.”
By the point MacIntyre obtained to his ball, that’s precisely what he was inspecting.
“It’s simply a type of unhealthy breaks you get in hyperlinks golf,” McGinley stated.
First, he had a hybrid in his arms, in search of a stance someplace behind the ball. However that may have ended up with him lining up solution to the correct. Even going so far as to face within the bunker and see what sort of baseball swing he may 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 then you definitely rise up there and also you’ve obtained no shot,” MacIntyre stated 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 unhealthy break was rewarded with break. He took almost a full swing with what regarded 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 up to now 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 obtained little bit of luck,” he admitted later. “The one place I couldn’t go was left, so I type 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 ft, 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 either side.
However MacIntyre suspected this try could have been a primary.
“I’d have executed one most likely lately, however full swipe at it? I’ve not executed one, I don’t suppose, in my life,” he stated.
