There were good waves and bad ones in St Andrews last week.
The latter were literal and they crashed into the rocks behind the R&A clubhouse, swept in that direction by Storm Amy and its 60 mph gusts that forced the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship to be reduced to 54 holes after disruption to the action on Friday and, more significantly, on Saturday.
The former were metaphorical. They were waves of Ryder Cup joy and Robert MacIntyre rode them in style to become just the fourth Scottish winner of the tournament after Paul Lawrie (2001), Stephen Gallacher (2004) and Colin Montgomerie (2005).
With three rounds of 66 at Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and the Old Course, MacIntyre compiled a winning total of 18-under 198, which left him four shots clear of runner-up Tyrrell Hatton of England and five ahead of South Africa’s Richard Sterne and another Englishman, John Parry, who shared third place.
It made it all the more admirable that he hung tough in the worst playing conditions of the week, at Kingsbarns on Friday, and perhaps the unplanned rest day on Saturday was just what he needed.
MacIntyre had opened his week with a groggy flight across the Atlantic after playing his full part in Europe’s Ryder Cup triumphant celebrations in New York and he received a lovely reception when hitting the course on Thursday morning. “I’ve never seen the first tee like it at the Dunhill before,” he said afterward. “It was absolutely brilliant.”
He did concede, however, that despite his bright start he was finding it difficult to regain physical and psychological intensity after the highs experienced at Bethpage Black. “The energy levels are quite low,” he said. “I’m trying to enjoy myself, to take the rough with the smooth.”
In the final round he was 6-under par through 13 holes and five strokes clear of the field when faced with the biggest challenge of his week, having barely escaped a fairway pot bunker with his third shot at the par-5 14th. Perhaps missing the torrent of expletives from outside the ropes he received last Sunday, MacIntyre unleashed a series of them himself.
His potty-mouthed chuntering done, he scrambled for par to settle the nerves. He wasn’t perfect thereafter – there was a bogey at 17 and a spurned 4-foot birdie opportunity on 18 – but he had done enough to set a clubhouse target no-one could match and to claim a fourth DP World Tour title.
At the start of the week most would have expected his Ryder Cup teammates Hatton, Matt Fitzpatrick or Tommy Fleetwood to lift the trophy. Hatton is a three-time Dunhill Links champion, Fitzpatrick won in 2023 and Fleetwood is a two-time runner-up.
In contrast, MacIntyre had recorded four top-30s in five visits but his best effort was T20. Moreover he said after finishing T34 in the 2022 Open at St Andrews: “It’s not a course I’ve got great memories of. I’ve struggled in the [St Andrews] Links Trophy and the Dunhill.”
Last year he even issued a remarkable assessment of the famous Road Hole. “Blow it up,” he cried. “I don’t think there are many worse holes in world golf.”
In addition he admitted that his preparation had been entirely against the book all week. “I pitched up Wednesday afternoon and played just 12 holes,” he said. “And the diet has not been good, I can confirm that. I’ve eaten plenty of fish and chips and other takeaways.”
But none of it mattered. The waves had carried him home.
Matt Cooper