Robert MacIntyre draws comparisons between Ryder Cup and shinty

Ryder Cup Rookie Robert MacIntyre believes the format and team environment of the biennial event is similar to Scottish sport shinty.

The 27-year-old will be the first Scot to play at a Ryder Cup since Stephen Gallacher at Gleneagles in 2014 when he tees up at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club this week.

MacIntyre secured his spot on Team Europe via the European Points List as he narrowly held off Germany's Yannik Paul and Poland's Adrian Meronk to claim the third and final qualifying berth alongside Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm.

He has substantial team experience in his amateur golf career, which has included being selected for Great Britain & Ireland at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics and 2017 Walker Cup - the latter where he will once again face Collin Morikawa and Scottie Scheffler in Rome, Italy.

MacIntyre met with the media on Wednesday morning and he praised the "football changing room vibe" within Team Europe as he spoke about his other passion - shinty.

Shinty is a 12 v 12 person sport with distinct comparisons to field hockey with a ball and shinty stick (caman) played in 45 minute halves.

MacIntyre's father, Dougie, is a coach at professional club Oban Celtic - a team where the World Number 55 has regularly turned out for since earning his DP World Tour card in 2019.

MacIntyre put a self-imposed ban on swinging the caman to prevent any potential injury during his bid to secure a place on Luke Donald's European Ryder Cup Team, but he believes there are many similarities between the two sports.

"So the sport I play, shinty, I mean, it's 12 a side, but it's man on man. It's not like football where you've got the team will attack you and they have got a formation they are going to attack you with," he said.

"In shinty, it's man v man, the formation set up, and you mark a man and you can obviously cover. My dad is a coach, but he always says 'look, if you do your job right, then I'll look after the guy there. If you do your job right, it takes care of it'.

"It's the same in the team aspect for golf. I get it's the team bits; individual again, and if I do my job, it helps the rest of the guys. I'm trying to take that into it, and yeah, I find it very similar to the sports I enjoy. The main thing is just do your job well and it will help the main goal.

"In shinty, because it's such a man-on-man sport, obviously if there's a breakaway, you've got to cover him, but the majority of the time it's one v one. You stop your man and it helps the team."

MacIntyre is relishing the team atmosphere during Ryder Cup week, but he already acknowledges that standing on the first tee as a Team Europe player is incomparable.

"There's been a lot going on, obviously, but it feels very much like home," MacIntyre added.

"All the guys behind each other for one goal, and it's part of why, we say in shinty, it's one goal to win the match, and it's one goal this week to win the trophy back.

"Everything we've done with Scottish golf in amateur stuff was always team stuff; European Teams, Nations Cup. I went to college for a year and a half; it was a team.

"You travel as a team. My whole life's a team. I don't do anything without a team behind me.

"Nothing's going to prepare me for that first tee shot. It's just plain and simple. It's something bigger than I've ever been involved in and ever experienced."