MacIntyre needs 'hot start' to save Open chances

MacIntyre's best Open finished was a tied sixth at Royal Portrush in 2019

It's probably a measure of how far Bob MacIntyre has come that he goes into the final day of an Open Championship inside the top 10 but feeling frustrated.

The Scot started his third round at Royal Portrush five off pacesetter Scottie Scheffler, but finished it eight back from the peerless leader after a 70.

The world number 14 is not out of contention at six under, but it's hard to say he's in it either. "Unless I get off to a hot, hot start, it's probably out the window," MacIntyre conceded.

"If I see myself close to the lead and within a few shots, then we'll throw everything at it. But seeing the leaderboard, it's probably just jostling for position."

MacIntyre had vowed to not be scared of the prospect of getting in amongst it after his second-round 66.

But a late burst of low scoring late on Friday left him "almost in tears" on his coach and nudged him further away from the summit by the time he started on Saturday.

And as the sun shone, the 28-year-old found himself unable to take advantage of the more forgiving conditions in the way others could.

Sure, his scorecard showed the same spray of red as most of the field, but three ill-timed bogeys interupted any murmurings of momentum.

Three opening pars, then a dropped shot on four, caused him to slip down the order, but then his fortunes flipped.

Birdie on six immediately repaired the damage, before a close-range eagle on the par five seventh hoisted MacIntyre right back into the conversation.

Was that the spark? No. Bogey on eight stymied that.

And 15-footer for birdie on 11 - his longest of the week - turned out to be his last flicker. A flicker extinguished on 14.

When his approach from the middle of the fairway found a greenside bunker, his club went cartwheeling after it amid a cloud of elite swearing.

"I think it's fair game to lose the plot every now and again," MacIntyre said, when pressed on it afterwards. "A bit of anger came out."

Three shots later, he scribbled down another bogey. Baw burst. Four closing pars were purely perfunctory.

"The tougher the test, the more I feel I can keep that discipline," he added. "The more there's a birdie fest and a shootout, that's when I lose it properly.

"I thought walking away from here last night that I wouldn't be more than three shots back, but ended up five shots back from the best player in the world.

"Now tomorrow is about going out there and finishing as high as we can."