Bob MacIntyre is placing himself in voluntary lockdown after confessing that he was running on empty at the Dunhill Links Championship.
The Oban ace still managed to finish in a share of 25th at the Old Course on Sunday. But after his most successful season so far with huge wins at the Canadian Open and the Scottish Open the 28-year-old says he has nothing left to give. The star of Scottish golf declared: “I can’t wait to get a break and shut myself off from absolutely everyone and everything. It’s needed majorly. My head’s gone completely now and I am not planning to do anything. I am not touching the clubs for the next two weeks, maybe even three weeks. I wanted to break them at the end.
“I’ll literally just shut off from everyone apart from my family. I’m going to switch the phone off, close down social media, the lot, and come off everything. I intend to shut myself away because the last wee while has been a bit of carnage and I need a reset. Some days I have been getting up feeling like I have slept great and yet still felt tired.”
Compatriot David Law was also left drained in the wake of his Dunhill roller coaster – but for a very different reason. The 33-year-old from Aberdeen was riding high in joint third spot at halfway in the £3.75 million event and eyeing securing his card after slipping to 141st in the Race to Dubai. But a disastrous weekend collapse in the shape of back-to-back 75s plunged him to joint 64th at the Home of Golf where he picked up just £8,545 instead of a six-figure pay-cheque.
Worse, Law actually dropped a further two spots on the money-list and now has just three tournaments left to rescue his season. Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts came within a shot of creating a Dunhill fairytale when he went head-to-head with record-breaking Tyrrell Hatton whose closing birdie earned him a third title.
Without a DP World Tour win for five years, Colsaerts had to settle for second best and a purse of £400,000. He described his surprise achievement as a bitter-sweet experience in only his 16th event this year after dividing his time between tournament golf and commentating on the sport.
But there are no hard feelings on the part of the popular former Ryder Cup star who played a key part in the Miracle of Medinah in 2012. Indeed Colsaerts wouldn’t hesitate to give LIV player Hatton a fresh shot at glory in The States next year after the Englishman hinted that he felt almost bad at upstaging the man who helped mentor him in Rome last year in his role as one of Luke Donald’s vice-captains.
In fact that was one of the first things he said to the 32-year-old after losing out at the Home of Golf. Colsaerts revealed: “That’s just what I told him in the recording area, that they probably need him more than me. These are valuable points for guys who have gone to the other side and Tyrrell is one of the stalwarts of our team. So, in the end, let’s not be sad.”
Colsaerts would jump at the chance to once again assist Donald, but he said: “I think he would look at how the next eight months pan out before he makes a decision. But I would like to think I am on the short list. Playing in the Ryder Cup, being part of it or even watching on TV, how can you not enjoy it? Even if you just get a small role, it’s an amazing thing to be part of.”
Colsaerts, who remains torn between playing regularly or spending more time behind a microphone, will play in France this week after pointing out: “It’s almost like a home Open and it’s special. My parents will be there and also my wife and kids.”