Robert MacIntyre: I could happily walk away from golf if I won the Open

Robert MacIntyre admits he could happily retire if he won the Open.

The Scot made a promising start to his latest challenge to win a first major title as he shot a three-under-par first-round 67 at Royal Birkdale on Thursday.

Victory would fulfil the 29-year-old’s ambitions in the game and, although he has no plans to quit should he triumph this week, he could do so with his head held high if he wanted.

The world number 15 said: “If I won an Open, won any major, if something happened, I could happily walk away from the game of golf. I’ll openly say it, I’ll say it until I’m blue in the face.

“It would be all my goals that I ever dreamed of complete if I did that, but there’s a long way to go. I’m hoping to play the game for some ten years and more after that.”

With the course hard and fast after weeks of dry weather, MacIntyre took a conservative approach on day one, eschewing distance for control.

It brought him four birdies, offset by just one bogey.
He said: “It was a test of discipline. I feel I was very, very cautious off the tee.

“But the way I’ve been playing, my approach play has been really good. That was the priority, get it on the short stuff and stay out of these pot bunkers.

“I felt like I played really well. There were a couple of putts I don’t know how I missed, but other than that I felt like it was almost a perfect round of golf with the great scramble at the last.”