Scotsman Robert McIntyre is never afraid to voice his opinion and his latest rant further proves that point.
After finishing tied for 25th at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, where Tyrrell Hutton won his third record victory, McIntyre left the course and immediately returned to the Old Course's penultimate hole, the famous I hit the par 4 17th.
“Blow it up.” Mr McIntyre told The Scotsman's Martin Dempster. After Sunday's round.
“I don't think there are many worse holes in world golf than this.”
No. 17, known as the “road hole,” features a tee shot unlike any other in the world. You have to hit a cut over the corner of St. Andrews Hotel, and this dogleg right tee shot is completely blind. Therefore, out-of-bounds looms on the right side, always exploding anxiety in the player's mind. But approaching this 495-yard behemoth is no easy feat. The putting surface is pencil-thin and protected by the infamous bunker in the middle, making it nearly impossible to get out of the ups and downs. Beyond the green is the road that gives the hole its name, and just beyond that pavement stands a centuries-old wall. In some cases, players are forced to miss Richoche's chip shot off the stone in an attempt to return it to the green. they often fail.
For these reasons, birdies are rare.
“I think holes from the back tees are terrible holes. They don't need to be modernized. To create excitement, they need to be holes where you can hit a golf shot, not just a hole where you drop into the green and go up and down. Yes,” McIntyre explained.
“It almost plays like a par-5. They're trying to do things to this golf course that don't need to be done. [On Sunday,] I was at the far end of the hole when I hit a drive off the tee and then rifled a 4-iron. ”
McIntyre has good reason to be furious about this hole. In the third round on Saturday, his approach missed the front of the green and the road hole bunker, resulting in a double bogey 6. Not only did he make a par, but he also failed to make the ups and downs to avoid bogey. Despite that, he still shot a 7-under 65, but fell short of that number in Sunday's final round. McIntyre only shot a 2-under 70, which was not bad considering the rough conditions, but it wasn't as good as his round on Saturday. Still, McIntyre managed to post a good score on the 17th hole on Sunday, but still missed a shot and suffered a bogey five. He again short-circuited the green and again missed the up-and-down.
Still, a top-25 finish at Dunhill Links has no impact on his Race to Dubai ranking. DP World Tour’s equivalent of the FedEx Cup. McIntyre remains sixth in the rankings and is set to compete in the final two DP World Tour events of the year in the Middle East.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation's Playing Through. Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.
