How shinty mindset helped MacIntyre in Ryder Cup win

Bob MacIntyre admits his shinty experience helped steady him as he thought he was about to lose the Ryder Cup for Europe last month.

It had looked like Europe would thump the USA in New York, but the hosts fought back strongly on the final day, before the visitors finally secured the win through Tyrell Hatton's point.

MacIntyre was last out for the Europeans and as the day wore on, it looked increasingly likely the Cup could come down to the last match.

"It was horrible," the world number eight told BBC Radio Scotland's The Saturday Show. "There's no vice-captains, there's nobody walking with you apart from your family, friends, your partners.

"You feel as though it's you and your caddie against America. When I teed off, I thought 'this is going to be over by the time I get to the eighth', there was so much blue on the board.

"I got to eight or nine, and the main difference is just it's very even, but there's more red now. The matches going down the 18th kept flipping to red and I thought 'this is tight now'. It felt like 'this could come down to your match'.

"I missed the putt on the 15th and I honestly thought 'I'm going to lose the Ryder Cup for us'.

"I did the exact same thing in Rome, missed a putt on 14 and thought the exact same thing - I've lost the Ryder Cup."

However, MacIntyre was able to rely on a mindset learned from the game he grew up playing back in Oban - shinty.

"I just thought 'what would I do in a game of shinty when they score a goal in the 80th minute to go 1-0 up?'," he said.

"You can't just put your head down and give up. You've still got 10 minutes to come back, same in football."

Only a major remains on MacIntyre's bucket list

MacIntyre has now played a part in Ryder Cup victories in both Europe and America and the 29-year-old acknowledged that he is close to achieving everything he wants in the game.

"To win two, one at home and one away, it's what dreams are made of," he said. "I've literally got one more thing to achieve in the game of golf and that's win a major championship.

"Then I can walk away from the game of golf thinking I've done everything I dreamed of as a kid."

And, as usual, MacIntyre played a big part in the celebrations. As videos from the Team Europe bus emerged on social media, he was central to the action with another rendition of The Proclaimers' I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) added to the annals.

"I wish I was on that bus again right now," he reminisced. "It was amazing, some of the boys were flying before we even got on the bus, because their games finished sooner.

"Everything that was happening that day was a bit of carnage. When you're on those buses, like any sport and when it's an away game, especially being from where I'm from, the away trips are long - two and a half hours at least - so the journey home is always the best part after a win.

"The journey home on the bus from Rome was special but the journey back to the hotel in New York was... I don't know if anything is ever going to top that. It was outrageous."