As one of only three European Challenge Tour graduates who were unable to win en route to a top 15 berth, Robert MacIntyre’s near misses were enough for him to secure a ticket to the promised land.
The 22 year old’s first Challenge Tour start – the Belt and Road Colourful Yunnan Open – yielded a tied seventh finish, one of five top ten spots of the season.
As four successive missed cuts arrived after the Turkish Airlines Challenge, the left hander struggled for form, only finishing inside the top 30 on three occasions by the time August rolled around.
However, following a tie for 29that the Swedish Challenge by Robert Karlsson, the Oban-born man made the trip across Scandinavia to Finland where he finished second in the Vierumäki Finnish Challenge after losing to home favourite Kim Koivu in a play-off.
The near miss in Finland catapulted MacIntyre into 27thon the Road to Ras Al Khaimah and presented him with a real chance of making the top 15.
The inconsistency which plagued the early part of his season returned as he missed three out of five cuts heading into October, a month which proved life-changing.
Despite never really challenging for top spot, the Scot finished in a tie for fourth at the Monaghan Irish Challenge as he crept up the Rankings into 31stspot with the lucrative end-of-season Chinese Swing offering vast riches.
He slipped three places after a tied 47thfinish at the Hainan Open, but it was the following week, at the Foshan Open, where he finally broke into that top 15 – and provided one of the most memorable Challenge Tour moments of all time.
A level par second round meant he was languishing in a tie for 44that the halfway stage at Foshan Golf Club, but an eight under par third round catapulted him into contention at the top of a tight leaderboard.
Four shots behind overnight leader Victor Perez, MacIntyre closed the gap to three after the front nine before a trio of gains on the back nine meant he visited the final hole one shot behind clubhouse leader Sean Crocker.
After finding the fringe on the back edge of the final green, the young Scot was left with what looked like an impossible 80-foot putt.
However, impossible it was not. He started the ball high on the undulating green and as it swept round towards the pin, MacIntyre raised his putter aloft before walking it in as he took the Foshan Open lead with only Perez able to catch him.
As it transpired, the Frenchman holed an extraordinary putt of his own to force a play-off – meaning MacIntyre returned for extra holes for the second time in the year – and again, the Scot was unable to emerge victorious as he could only manage par, with Perez carding a birdie to secure his own European Tour playing privileges.
Moving into 13thplace ahead of the Ras Al Khaimah Challenge Tour Grand Final, MacIntyre secured his maiden season on the European Tour with a tied sixth finish in the United Arab Emirates, making his first professional season a real success.
Since joining Europe’s top tier, MacIntyre has missed just one cut in four events and followed up that disappointment with successive tied 15thfinishes at the South African Open hosted by the City of Johannesburg and the Alfred Dunhill Championship.
