Bob MacIntyre shares lead in Myrtle Beach Classic after 'great day'

Scot admits playing in same group as Kiwi Ryan Fox helped bring out the best in him

Bob MacIntyre signed off his best day so far as a PGA Tour card holder by rolling in a 35-foot birdie putt to secure a share of the first-round lead in the inaugural Myrtle Beach Classic.

Admitting he’d been helped by having a familiar face in Kiwi Ryan Fox in his group at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club, that bonus at the par-3 ninth came after seven earlier birdies, with a sole dropped shot on his card coming at the eighth.

It added up to a seven-under-par 64, giving MacIntyre his first-ever lead on the US circuit as he set the pace in the $4 million event along with American Beau Hossler.

Ryan Fox and Bob MacIntyre chat during the first round of the Myrtle Beach Classic at Dunes Golf & Beach Club in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Picture: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images.

“It was good,” said the Oban man of his day’s work. “Got off to a good start on the front nine (where he birdied the 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th and 18th holes). Kind of built up a bit of momentum and then just hung on to it really.

“It got really tough (in the wind) on the back nine, so I was just trying to manage the misses well. On my 17th, I was happy to get out of there with a bogey after my tee shot. Overall, a great day.”

It has been a difficult start to life as a PGA Tour card holder for MacIntyre, one of the ten players to secure that status through the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai last season. He’d missed six cuts in 12 starts, but this was more like it.

“To be honest, coming into this week, not a lot,” he replied to being asked where he’d felt more comfortable in his game. “But I made a few tweaks in the last two days, and I've been rolling the ball really nice on the greens. The greens are absolutely perfect out there. Today I did everything pretty well. Drove it well, iron play well. I's not really a wedge golf course, so don't have too many of them. But yeah, overall, all around good game.”

The 27-year-old had spoken earlier in the week about how he’d found the US circuit a “lonely place” place and it was probably no coincidence that he produced some great golf with someone like Fox, a former Dunhill Links champion, in his group.

“It's been a difficult start. It's a complete different change coming from the DP World, a whole different environment,” said the left-hander. “It's still golf, but today I've played with Foxy, who's a good friend of mine from playing in Europe, and we actually said before we teed off, we're just going to have a laugh today, and the two of us were laughing all the way down, having some fun, having jokes, and it just makes it easier.”

MacIntyre’s best finish so far on the US circuit was a tie for sixth in the Mexico Open in February before joining forces with Belgian Thomas Detry to claim a share of eighth spot in the recent Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

“We're spinning plates every week,” he said. “We're trying to get the best golfer out on the golf course that we can possibly get. I went home for three weeks there and didn't touch a golf club. Well, I touched them twice in three weeks when I was home, and I was a bit rusty the first couple of weeks.

“Then this week, you've got to play golf. You've got to shape shots. You've got to move the ball. You've got to think. I think that's when I play my best golf, on golf courses where you've got to think and you've got to manage your golf ball.”

Martin Laird sits joint-38th after opening with a two-under-par 69 while Russell Knox is just inside the top 90 following his 72.

In this week’s other PGA Tour event, 2022 Genesis Scottish Open champion Xander Schauffele finished eagle-par-birdie for a seven-under-par 64 to lead by three shots in the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow in North Carolina.

After being five under through seven holes, a bogey to finish left current Scottish Open champion Rory McIlroy having to settle for a 67 to sit alongside Collin Morikawa and Alex Noren.

Elsewhere in the US, Scottish No 1 Gemma Dryburgh picked up three shots in her last five holes to open with a one-under-par 71 in the LPGA Tour’sCognizant Founders Cup at Upper Montclair Country Club in New Jersey.

The effort left Dryburgh sitting joint-48th as former women’s amateur world No 1 Rose Zhang set a hot pace with a nine-under 63, six shots better than Nelly Korda as she chases a sixth success on the trot.