ALFRED DUNHILL LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP

October 4, 2023

Robert MacIntyre

Press Conference

TOM CARLISLE: We are joined in the media center by Bob MacIntyre at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. Fresh why your Ryder Cup debut, you had a chance to go home. How was that home coming?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: It was brilliant. I got to spend time with the nearest and dearest. Yeah, we went for a couple of drinks there when I got home on Monday night. Yeah, it's just kind of not all sunk in yet but we are here this week now and ready to go.

TOM CARLISLE: How special is it having that first appearance straight after the Ryder Cup on home soil, as well.

ROBERT MacINTYRE: It's good. I didn't think I would be here at this time of the day but here I am. Yeah, if we're playing in Scotland, anywhere in Scotland, I'll always be there.

Q. How was the journey home?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: The weather is fresh. I'm not the freshest. It been brilliant. The journey, from whence we won it, it's just been a dream to be honest with you. It's been incredible from the bus journey to the team room to the celebrations to getting home. It's been everything as a kid that I always thought it would be. It was even more than the dream, and it's just been -- yeah, it's a lifetime achievement that I've ticked off.

Q. How late were you on Sunday night?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: I was in at 3 o'clock I think. I bailed. I knew I had to get that flight home, so I was like, I've got to get home. The whole atmosphere was unbelievable from the first day to the last. It was all about being chilled out. A few had PJs on. There wasn't too many cameras in the room which is a bonus. Just letting your hair down after a hectic week.

Q. Going forward, having played in a Ryder Cup --

ROBERT MacINTYRE: To keep dreaming. I was lucky enough to have the most supportive family that anyone could ask for. I mean, from my sister, to my parents that worked numerous jobs to give me a chance. I dreamed of certain things and hoped they would happen. But to play in a Ryder Cup, to win a Ryder Cup, it was just a dream, and you've got to dream it before you can believe it. I was lucky enough to let it happen. But I mean, this just is a dream, shoot for the stars and keep dreaming.

Q. Have you had time to think about what's next?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: No, I've not -- a phone call last night and like a team phone call, but pushed it back a week to next week on the week off and stuff. We'll talk about that then and set different goals. More dreams. I kind of know what I'm going to say in it. I know what dreams I want to achieve. But a lot has got to change within my life to achieve the dreams. I don't know if I'm willing to change as much as I need to to achieve them but we'll sit down next week and have the chat, an open chat with the whole team, and see how we move forward.

When I got home -- I didn't get home until 6.00, 7.00 at night, and it was kind of a closed environment. Declan, he shut his pub/restaurant, just shut it all down. It was just my friends and family. Close friends and family that were there just as a little celebration.

Yeah, when I get home, my biggest thing before I finish in my career is giving people opportunities, and I was lucky enough to get an opportunity through my family but I mean, there's so many good sportsmen and sportswomen at home that can't finance it, can't fund it. That's something that I want to be able to give back.

I will at some point set up a foundation that supports that. I've spoken about it for a few years now but I wasn't at a level that I could kind of do it yet and that's something I've always looked at doing is giving people from the same or similar background as me an opportunity to achieve things in any walk of life, whether it's sport, music, you name it, just give them an opportunity.

That's the main thing, if you are given an opportunity, then you can move forward from that.

Q. This week, start of getting back to the Top-50 in the world at the end of the year to get into the Masters?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: Yeah, for me, the main goal is Top-50 in the world by Christmas. That's pretty much my only goal now. And it's very much achievable. It's very close. I just need to set my own points to achieve that.

This week is about trying to win the Dunhill Links. It's business as usual as me when I come to a golf tournament. I know my golf has been up-and-down for the last wee while but there's been a lot of stress going on in the background with the Ryder Cup and getting on that team.

But now I feel like I can just cruise around and play aggressive golf.

Q. When you say things might have to change to go to the next level, is that potentially going to America, would that be a huge goal for you?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: Yeah, it would be. There's so much going on just now, I'm just trying to put it to the back of my mind. I know a lot of things that potentially could happen. I actually had that conversation with my mom yesterday about it, and I was like, I think I've got to do certain things to get to that next level. Because she was like, what's your strategy now? It's like, how do we achieve this. I know inside what I need to do.

But it's a lot. I mean, I enjoy family time. I enjoy home life. I don't know whether that's the be-all end-all. I need to weigh it all out with the team around me.

Q. Making that flight back yesterday, the flight to Glasgow, how important was that, all your pals and family were on that?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: Yeah, my friends and family were all on that night. My car was in Glasgow. So it was going to be a bit of a nightmare to fly to Edinburgh and then get a taxi. I was like, when I woke up in the morning, I felt half-decent. I thought, I could make this flight.

No, the people that supported me back home were all there and that's why I play golf, to support the ones closest to me. If I had not had the support from people outside my family, I wouldn't be here today.

Q. How are the energy levels now after the incredible highs of the last week?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: Obviously it's my first Ryder Cup. And I don't know what this week is going to bring but my energy levels are actually relatively high. I just need to find the motivation now. So I'll go out there, practise, see how the game is, and then yeah, I'm sure the motivation, when I'm in battle, the motivation will be high.

Q. And do you have a personal on-course and off-course high you can share from last week?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: The unbeaten record is great, but we spoke about it in the team room at the start of the week. I really couldn't care whether I got zero points or five points in five games. It was all about winning the Ryder Cup. How we done that, it didn't matter, as long as we won the Ryder Cup back.

We managed to do that. Obviously getting 2 1/2 out of three was great and with a great partner and great team around me. But for me, the highlight was just getting into that team room with the Ryder Cup trophy, when it was just 13 of us in there in the one room, no cameras, no nothing, and we just had a bit of time together and kind of embraced everyone and realised what we had achieved. I think that will probably be the memory that's with me forever, having all the guys around you, the full team, and Luke, the captain, it was a dream come true and it's something that I'll never, ever forget.

Q. What was one of the things Justin Rose said to you?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: Probably the first tee shot on the Friday. He seen I was nervous. I was almost crying walking off the range.

But when we had done all the TV cameras and all that, he comes over put his arm around me and goes, "Everything is going to be all right. This will be over in 2 1/2 minutes." He was brilliant. He's so experienced. He kept me calm. He trusted me. He believed in me. Even though I was terrible on the green on Friday.

I think he spoke to Luke and said, "He's close." And I felt that tee-to-green I was solid. I was never out of a hole. I was never making a disaster. I was almost allowing him to be more aggressive because he was playing so good.

Then Saturday, he just kept believing in me. I still had not made a putt for 12 holes, and I stood on 13, and he was trying to help me read the putt. I was like, "Justin, it's all right. I got this one." And once I holed that, he put his arm around me and was like, that's what it's all about. We fight together. He was incredible the whole week. He was someone that I knew I got along with, but I mean, I know him on a different level.

Q. Where are the clubs?

ROBERT MacINTYRE: They are in a different bag that has not arrived. It will all be sent off in a different bag and I'll see them in a few weeks, I'm sure.