Robert MacIntyre was glad to be able to enjoy his weekend at St Andrews after admitting he was feeling the pressure to maintain his made-cuts streak in Major Championships at The 150th Open.
Since making his Major debut at The Open 2019, the Scot has made ten consecutive cuts in golf's four biggest events but it was a close-run thing at the Old Course on Friday.
A bogey on the 15th left him right on the line but he held his nerve down the final three holes and with the pressure off, carded a 69 in round three.
"Yesterday was big for me," he said after his third round. "I've never been that stressed on a golf course in my life. With seven holes to go, I don't know what was going on.
Weekend golf @TheOpen ❤️#10inarow pic.twitter.com/F8Q8VIhwKj
— Robert MacIntyre (@robert1lefty) July 15, 2022
"I had to turn away from the actual fairway on 16 because there was too much going on. Fan support is absolutely brilliant but I was feeling it.
"You're not letting people down but you know how much it means. There's so many people supporting me and it means so much to me that... I wasn't going to let them down because I was having a hard bit but I was trying almost too hard.
"Then the two putts on 16 and 17 yesterday, I just gave up. I was like, 'great, I've got to have these putts, and if they go in, they go in'. Thankfully, I holed them.
"Last night I was sitting at the dinner table just slouched, didn't know what to do. I was trying to eat but I was just, I was done. I could have curled up in a ball when I finished and cried.
"I enjoyed it today because there was no consequence. I was hitting shots I wouldn't have hit yesterday. For instance, on 16 I hit bang driver down the left. Whereas yesterday I had to turn away on that hole because I just had to switch off from golf for a second to give me a bit of peace.
"But tomorrow is going to be absolutely brilliant. Hopefully I'll go out a bit later and hopefully shoot a bit lower than today and get the crowd going."
