Bob MacIntyre needs Texas triumph to secure Masters spot next month

Scot is in Last Chance Saloons in Houston and San Antonio in his bid to be at Augusta National

Bob MacIntyre is bidding to make his third appearance in The Masters, having finished tied 12th on his debut in 2021 before making the top 25 again the following year. Picture: Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images.

It’s win or bust for Bob MacIntyre in Texas over the next two weeks in his bid to make a third Masters appearance at Augusta National, having made the drive up Magnolia Lane in both 2021 and 2022 before missing out on the season’s opening major last year.

The Oban man sits 74th in the Official World Golf Ranking ahead of next Monday’s final cut-off for players inside the top 50 and nothing less than a victory in this week’s Texas Children’s Houston Open can now secure his spot through that exemption category.

Failing that, MacIntyre would then need to win next week’s Valero Texas Open in San Antonio as that event offers the final spot up for grabs in the 88th edition of The Masters.

It’s the same scenario for MacIntyre’s compatriot, Martin Laird, and the 41-year-old will be hoping history repeats itself after he won the Valero Texas Open in 2013 to secure the third of his four appearances in the Georgia tournament.

According to world rankings expert Nosferatu, only three players in the Texas Children’s Houston Open field at Memorial Park Golf Course can climb into the top 50 ahead of Monday’s invitation D-day with less than a win.

It would be job done for American Tom Hoge if he finishes fifth on his own, Canadian Mackenzie Hughes needs to end up in a two-way tie for second while Swede Alex Noren, a former Genesis Scottish Open champion, requires solo second.

Meanwhile, Gemma Dryburgh will be hoping to cement her Solheim Cup standing when she lines up in a new LPGA Tour event, the Ford Championship presented by KCC, which is taking place at Seville Golf & Country Club in Arizona.

On the back of her third top-ten finish in just six starts this season, Dryburgh now sits in the sixth automatic qualifying spot for Suzann Pettersen’s European side for this year’s contest at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia in mid-September.