Robert MacIntyre has vowed to come out all guns blazing in the final two rounds of the Open Championship after narrowly making the cut.
Oban’s MacIntyre approached his second round two shots under par, with the hope of moving closer to the early tournament pacesetters.
A two over par round of 74 dropped him back to level par for the tournament however, forcing him to await confirmation he had made to the weekend after finishing his own 18 holes.
It preserves his record of making the cut at every major he has competed in.
MacIntyre admitted the cut line contributed to anxious thoughts during his second round, in which he recorded four bogeys and two birdies.
With a clean slate ahead of him, MacIntyre insists the shackles will be off when he tees off early on Saturday morning.
MacIntyre said: “It’s all guns blazing, no hanging back. I don’t know what the lead is now, but I’m a fair bit back. I know the golf I can play. I’ve been striking it well.
“Today I was a wee bit anxious. I was thinking about things, I wasn’t fully committed in what I was working on. I was doing the preset that I was really focusing on.
“From the minute I stepped on until about the 8th tee, I was thinking the cut line. I was thinking the whole way in. I was watching how it was moving.
“In the last five holes, I just had to switch on to just commit to the preset and forget what I was doing. I had to forget I was playing The Open Championship, and just hit it.”
Caddie kept MacIntyre calm when he reached “boiling point”
MacIntyre had to hold his nerve on some key occasions in order to avoid dropping further shots.
The 25-year-old admitted he was at “boiling point” at the 10th hole, when his drive found rough down the left hand side of the fairway.
His second shot rebounded off a sign at the 11th tee before returning into the rough, however he managed to get it up and down to salvage a par.
MacIntyre also holed a crucial seven-foot putt on the 17th to remain at level par for the tournament, although he missed an opportunity to cut his score on the final hole.
MacIntyre added: “I just thought it was going to be one of those days, but my caddie Mike Thomson did well to keep me calm. I was at boiling point at that point (at the 10th).
“I missed some good opportunities for birdie round about there. When I hit that sign and I was trying to get it into position, it may actually have helped me because I had that flat part to land on.
“I holed some great putts on 16, 17, to give me a chance. Then 18 I just misread it. I trusted the line, and it just wasn’t the right line.”
Wind a factor in MacIntyre’s round
Following his opening round, left-hander MacIntyre spoke of the conditions making life difficult for him on the back nine.
The 13th hole proved to be his nemesis on Thursday when he recorded a double bogey, and it was the scene of another dropped shot in his second round.
MacIntyre says the wind direction caused him problems on Friday, adding: “It was tough. The wind switched on six, I think it was. I thought I was going to get a little help getting the front nine with the wind direction we were having, and it switched, and that back nine into the wind is not easy.
No, I mean, for me to hang on there, it wasn’t easy for me, and I was starting — I was stressing a little bit.
“It’s tough when it’s downwind, but when it switched back into it you’re struggling to get up on some holes.
“Overall I hung in well, holed some key putts at the end.”
