Scot Robert McIntyre has never been afraid to express his opinions, and his latest tirade further proved this.
After finishing tied for 25th at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (Tyrrell Hatton's record third win), McIntyre walked off the course and immediately hit the penultimate hole on the Old Course , the famous par-4 17th hole.
“Blow it up,” McIntyre told The Scotsman’s Martin Dempster after Sunday’s game.
“I don’t think there are many worse holes in world golf.”
The 17th hole is known as the “Road Hole” and its tee shot is unique in the world. You have to hit it over the corner of the St. Andrews Hotel to completely blind the tee shot on this dogleg right. As a result, out-of-bounds looms on the right side, which always fills players with anxiety. But the approach doesn't get any easier for this 495-yard behemoth. The putting surface is pencil-thin and protected by an infamous central bunker that is nearly impossible to climb out of. Beyond the green is a road that gives the hole its name, and behind the walkway stands a centuries-old wall. Sometimes players have no choice but to chip the ball off the stone in an attempt to get the ball back onto the green. They are often unsuccessful.
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For these reasons, there are few birds.
“I think the back tee is a horrible hole. It doesn't need to be modernized, and in order to be exciting, it needs to be a hole that you can hit the golf ball into, not one where you just hit the ball onto the green and Try holes that move up and down,” McIntyre explained.
“It’s almost like a par 5. They’re trying to do something to this golf course that doesn’t need to be done. [On Sunday,] I teed it off the tee and hit a 4-iron, and I was the furthest away from the hole. “
McIntyre had good reason to be angry about the hole. In Saturday's third round, he hit a shot short of the green and a road bunker, resulting in a double-bogey six. He couldn't get up to save the bogey, let alone save par. Still, he shot a 7-under 65, but he didn't come close to that number in Sunday's final round. McIntyre could only shoot a 2-under 70, which was not bad considering the windy conditions, but not nearly as good as the round he delivered on Saturday. However, McIntyre had a better score on the 17th hole on Sunday, although he still lost one shot and had five bogeys. He missed the green short again and failed to get up and down again.
Still, his top-25 finish at Dunhill Links will have no impact on his ranking for the trip to Dubai, the Dubai World Tour's equivalent of the FedEx Cup. McIntyre remains sixth in the standings and has secured a spot in the final two events of the year on the DP World Tour Middle East.
Jack Milko is the golf staff writer for SB Nation's Playing Through. Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Get more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jackmilko as well as.
