Robert MacIntyre was unable to win on home soil for the second time this season, with the Scot finishing in a tie for 25th at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Robert MacIntyre was one of the players who left himself with just too much to do heading into Sunday at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, with the 28-year-old 10 shots back of Tyrrell Hatton heading into the final round.
The damage had largely been done with his level par round around Kingsbarns on Friday. Funnily enough, MacIntyre had named Kingsbarns as one of his favourite courses ahead of the event. But perhaps he would not quite say the same about St Andrews.
Robert MacIntyre criticises ‘terrible’ hole at St Andrews
Understandably, the Old Course is nicknamed the Home of Golf, and will always have a special place in the game’s history. But it seems that MacIntyre does not always relish the chance to tee it up at St Andrews, because of one particular hole.
MacIntyre played the Road Hole in three over par over the week, with a double bogey coming on Saturday. Of course, the Scottish Open champion is far from being the only player to see a round ruined by the penultimate hole at the Old Course.
But it would appear that he has had enough of the experience. Speaking to The Scotsman, MacIntyre admitted that he does not enjoy playing the 17th one bit.
“I don’t think there are many worse holes in world golf,” he said.
“I think it’s a terrible hole off the back tee. It doesn’t need to be modernised, to bring excitement it needs to be a hole you are able to hit a golf shot into and not one where you just hit it onto the green and try to get up and down.
“It almost plays like a par five. They try to do things to this golf course that don’t need to be done. Today I rifled a drive off the tee and then a four iron and I was the furthest up the hole.”
St Andrews is probably more divisive in the modern game
It is clear that St Andrews is not an ideal course for the modern game. Saturday showed that it can be fairly defenceless if the weather is good, with Hatton tying the course record with his 61. The worst winning score at an Open held at the Old Course since the turn of the century meanwhile, was 14 under par.
It would probably be even lower had it not been for the 17th hole. Many will remember Cameron Smith having to get up and down on his way to winning The Open in 2022. Meanwhile, Hatton produced arguably the shot of the tournament on 17 on Sunday this past weekend.
Perhaps 17 is far from perfect, and it is hard to imagine that MacIntyre is alone in his view, but surely very little is likely to change given that it finds itself on the most famous course in the world.
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