British Open 2026: Hitting the breaks instead of the gas can work at Birkdale. Ask Bob MacIntyre
· Yahoo Sports
SOUTHPORT, England — Playing major championship golf is challenge. Especially on a firm and fast Royal Birkdale.
“It's one of the hardest links courses I've ever played,” Bob MacIntyre said shortly after tapping in for a three-under-par 67 on Thursday, getting his seventh appearance in the Open Championship off to a good start. “Just for the sheer fact of the positions of the pot bunkers on certain holes with the length of the hole.
Visit esporist.com for more information.
Eager to see the approach of the best players in the world playing one of the most strategic layouts in the Open rota, I picked a good group to follow. Scotland’s Bob MacIntyre, alongside Alex Fitzpatrick and Rickie Fowler, joined the lead in the clubhouse despite a very conservative game plan.
After stepping off his opening tee shot because a drone flying overhead, remember there is history there, he laughed, re-addressed his ball, hit driver over the bunker and made a birdie. From then on, however, the driver was retired in favour of fairways.
Stuart Kerr/R&A
MacIntyre hit 5-iron on the second, a hole that Viktor Hovland drove in practice, and left himself 172 yards to the hole. Moments later a cheer from the galleries when nearly holed his approach from short of the fairway bunkers. Immediately to the top of the leaderboard and it wasn’t even 8 a.m. on Thursday morning.
And it was more of the same the rest of the way. Conservative, safe tee shots leaving longer shots that he executed well. A 7-iron off the tee on the par-4 10th hole, a 5-iron at the 510-yard closing hole, his strategy was both obvious and effective.
“It was a test of discipline and almost acceptance,” he said after the round. “I probably took the club off the tee which then left a fairly long shot in on some of them, but my job was to get it on the fairway, stay out of these pot bunkers.”
Richard Heathcote
And he did that. The only bunker he found all day was a greenside one on the 14th hole, and he made birdie.
Coming off a top-10 finish last year at Royal Portrush, and another top-10 last week at the Scottish Open, the 29-year-old is clearly a fan of battling this style of course.
“I enjoy it when I've got a fight. I'm not just fighting the golf course, I'm fighting myself, I'm fighting with Mike [his caddie].”
MacIntyre appeared happy both with his score and his choice of game plan. One he intends to stick to throughout the week. There’s been plenty of discussion of the design of the course and how, with the firmness we’ve seen this week, it can ask questions of the world’s best golfers.
Bob Mac certainly passed the test on Thursday.
• • •
Is it the British Open or the Open Championship? The name of the final men’s major of the golf season is a subject of continued discussion. The event’s official name, as explained in this op-ed by former R&A chairman Ian Pattinson, is the Open Championship. But since many United States golf fans continue to refer to it as the British Open, and search news around the event accordingly, Golf Digest continues to utilize both names in its coverage.
• • •
MORE GOLF DIGEST BRITISH OPEN COVERAGEBritish Open 101: Answering all your frequently asked questions
How to watch the British Open on TV and streaming
Tee times for the first and second rounds
Video: The craziest 29 minutes in British Open history
Power Rankings: Every player in the field at Royal Birkdale
The Open keeps growing, but does it come at the price of tradition?
Video: Every hole at Royal Birkdale
Royal Birkdale demands these five shots. Here’s how pros practice them
How does a golf course earn ‘Royal’ status?
The best British Opens, ranked
The decision every pro face as they stand on the tee at Birkdale