Robert MacIntyre will not give up on his dream of becoming a major champion after falling just short at the US Open.
MacIntyre had hopes of becoming the first Scot to win a major since Paul Lawrie in 1999 when he was the clubhouse leader on the final day at a rain-soaked Oakmont.
He produced an excellent two-under-par 68 to sit at one over and looked set for a possible play-off with JJ Spaun, who had two holes to play.
But the American saved his best for last, first driving the green for birdie at the 17th before draining a monster 65-foot putt on the 18th to win by two shots.
MacIntyre, still sodden from torrential rain that caused a 96-minute delay, was watching open-mouthed in the scorer’s office and could do nothing but applaud his opponent and mouth “wow”.
The 28-year-old’s career trajectory is on the rise, moving up to 12th in the rankings, and he looks set to be part of Europe’s Ryder Cup team again later this year.
The Scot wrote on Instagram on Monday: “Competing in the deep end of major championships is what I’ve dreamed of and yesterday was the first real taste of it. We’ll be back for more.”
He added after Sunday’s round: “I’ve got a chance to win a major championship. It’s what I’ve dreamed of as a kid, sitting back home watching all the majors.
“It was a day that I said to myself, ‘Why not? Why can’t it be me today?’ when I was going round, and I just trusted myself.
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“Almost got there, but not quite. I always thought I could really challenge, even going into today, but obviously the start wasn’t a help.”
His dreams looked to be in tatters when he was two over after three holes but an eagle at the par-five fourth kick-started his round.
And he was pleased with the way he fought back into contention.
“I am absolutely delighted with the way I played. I got off to a rough start, I didn’t get off to the start I wanted to, but I have been working so hard on staying patient and got my reward,” he added.
“I was watching the leaderboard all day and I saw I wasn’t really going away. It was just about digging in and digging in.”
