Robert MacIntyre has clinched the final automatic spot on the European points list to book his place as a debutant in Luke Donald’s team for the Ryder Cup later this month.
Scottish professional MacIntyre teed off in the final round of the Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre GC in Switzerland looking to sow up his third place behind Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm in the rankings for Rome.
MacIntyre began the fourth round with 1,836.37 points ahead of Germany’s Yannik Paul , 29, on 1,733.4 and Poland’s Adrian Meronk , 30, on 1,651.09 with Paul needing to finish in a two way tie for 3rd or better to overhaul MacIntyre and Meronk needing to finish in at least a two way tie for 2nd.
MacIntyre didn’t have his best round with a final round level par 70, including a double bogey at the last, to finish well down the leaderboard at three-under in a tie for 55th, but his rivals Paul and Meronk were unable to capitalise.
MacIntyre’s qualification will thrill the Scot who has previously said: “My only goal for the season, is to make that Ryder Cup team.”
It was a sweet moment for MacIntyre, who pushed McIlroy all the way at the Scottish Open earlier this summer, and was on his way to the airport at the time when news of his qualification broke.
The Scot joins McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Matt Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton in automatically qualifying for the side via either the world points list or European points list.
Robert McIntyre has already tasted success at Marco Simone
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Paul’s final round 67 left him 12-under in total and tied 20th which confirmed MacIntyre’s place in Donald’s Ryder Cup team. Meronk was a shot better on 13-under in a tie for 13th but neither pro picked up the points they needed to secure automatic qualification.
Meronk must now be hoping for one of captain Donald’s six wildcards which are due to be announced tomorrow on Monday September 4. He did his best to qualify automatically on Sunday in Switzerland with a four-under final round 66 which included a birdie, birdie finish but he was left to rue a double bogey seven on the 14th.
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