Robert MacIntyre says that & # 039; the & # 039; s three boys take on America & # 039; while focusing on The Masters

Robert MacIntyre is currently & # 39; the world's highest ranked left-handed golfer

"I'm just the pale kid from Scotland, ”says the 24-year-old from Oban who is going on a golf trip this week that will make anyone who loves the sport jealous. But Robert MacIntyre is no ordinary 24-year-old.

The former shinty player is now ranked number 43 in golf's latest world rankings and is currently the highest ranked left-handed player in the world, with big winners Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson following him in its wake.

This week he embarks on a seven-week journey in America that, if all goes well, will end with a showdown with the best at The Masters at Augusta National in early April.

Joining MacIntyre on the trip is his caddy Mikey Thomson and manager Iain Stoddart.

"It's gonna be great," MacIntyre told BBC Scotland. "That's the way I try to approach it in my head. It's a golfing journey. Obviously, with everything that happens is a lot more than that. We will protect ourselves. We will rent out houses. We will just be it. The three guys attacking America. This is how we will do it. "

& # 39; It's almost like playing hide and seek & # 39;

MacIntyre & # 39; s rise to fame in the fiercely competitive professional golf ranks is a story in itself. He was a successful amateur and took part in the tour of the Middle East and North Africa three and a half years ago. But it could all have been so different.

"I wasn't going to be a professional then," he said. "I went to the MENA Tour as an amateur before going to the tour school. But I just called Iain and said let's just do this.

" What's the point of being there? to go and not play for money and just play for experience? While we can go out and if we play well and make some money, it can cover the cost of the trip.

He hasn't looked back since then. At the end of 2019 he became the first Scotsman since Marc Warren in 2006 to be crowned European Tour Rookie of the Year.

His rise in the world rankings gave him entry to both the US Open and the US PGA last year, making the cut in both majors. And after a good streak of form, he finally took his first European Tour victory in Cyprus in October.

But MacIntyre is not one to forget his roots, returning to Scotland, he likes nothing more than to jump in his car and drive back to the west side of the country to his beloved Oban, where he can re-merge into society.

He explains: “It's almost like I'm playing hide and seek with everyone. When I'm on tour, when I'm in the golf scene, everyone watches you. You can go anywhere, but someone is watching you.

"But I feel like when I get home to Oban it's a relief, a freedom. I am away from the golf world, away from it all and I can go back to a 24 -year-old Bob MacIntyre who I thought I would be. "

MacIntyre & # 39; s mom Carol and dad Dougie are foster parents and give both Robert and his two sisters a take on it life that many others do not see. Robert says he wants to be in a position to use his special talents in a way that will help the less fortunate and give them a similar opportunity to the one he grabbed with both hands.

"That's something we want to do later," he says. "It's something my mom and Stoddy [Stoddart] have looked at, whether it's a foundation or something. It's about giving people a chance.

" I didn't come from a background that had a lot of money. My dad still has two jobs and my mom probably still works about three jobs. Some kids just haven't had a chance. It won't happen tomorrow, but if I can keep going where I'm going, it will give me a good platform that will help people. "