It is seven years since Robert MacIntyre stood on the first tee at The Renaissance Club alongside Rory McIlroy and fulfilled a childhood dream of playing in the Genesis Scottish Open.
This week the pair will tee off together from that spot once again but that is one of the few things that will be the same for MacIntyre both on and off the course.
Back then McIlroy was already an established superstar of the game, while MacIntyre was a DP World Tour rookie finding his way after graduation from the HotelPlanner Tour.
Since then they have become Ryder Cup team-mates who are both Genesis Scottish Open champions, dual members with the PGA TOUR and, outside the ropes, fathers.
They shared one of the most remarkable afternoons in this event’s history in 2023 when MacIntyre hit an incredible second to the last to make a birdie and send the home crowd into raptures, only for McIlroy to outdo him and with a birdie of his own and take the title by one.
The Scot came back the following year to get his hands on the crown and ahead of an eighth consecutive start at Renaissance, he was left to reflect on how far he had come.
“First time I played here, I could hardly get the ball on the tee,” he said. “I think that was my first Scottish Open as well. It was my first one.
“I don't mind getting thrown in the deep end, but that one, it was something that I thought I had to do, and it was a massive learning curve.
“Now it just feels like another round of golf.”
While MacIntyre may be fully adjusted his lofty position in the golfing world, off the course he is still getting used to a new normal after he and partner Shannon welcomed son Findlay in January, just days after MacIntyre became just the third Scot to reach the top five on the Official World Golf Ranking.
Unlike many dual members who choose to base themselves in the United States, MacIntyre still lives in Oban on the west coast of the Scottish mainland and travels across the Atlantic to compete, sometimes having to leave family behind.
Shannon and Findlay were with him for a recent run of PGA TOUR events that culminated in a top ten at the Travelers Championship and the 29-year-old has been candid in admitting that life on the road without them can be difficult.
“They managed to come out the five-week stretch I was on there and I feel like my golf was turning in the right direction,” he said. “The last event at the Travelers was probably my best overall game, tee to green especially, approach play was up.
“It just makes life a lot easier. There is worse problems in the world but when you’ve just had a newborn and it’s your first you want to enjoy life.
“For me, I’m a family guy so I want to enjoy life and be at home and when they couldn’t be out there for serious reasons it was like, well, I’ve still got to do my job.
“It was great that they could come out and they’re here this week and next week and then hopefully two, maybe three weeks off after that.”
Those two weeks composed of his home open and next week’s Open Championship at Royal Birkdale represent MacIntyre’s two greatest individual ambitions in golf.
And while he may have achieved one of them, he would like multiple wins at this event before he puts away his clubs.
“With everything I feel like I’ve achieved in the game of golf now, other than a Major Championship, I’ve completed my dream,” he said.
“The Scottish Open is just special for me, I don’t know how to explain it. It’s the one I watched as a kid growing up, every year I went to Loch Lomond.
“Now here at Renaissance, managing to win it once, coming close the other time and now I just want to win it a few more times.
“I want to do it again. Every year I pitch up here I want to do it again and again and again.
“Winning an Open Championship would be... I wouldn't be picky. I'd take any of the Majors.
“One of the special things that I done here was the celebration that I had with my friends and family and some of the staff that were working purely the Scottish Open. It was obviously one of the best nights, days, weeks, that I've had. It probably is the best week that I've had at a golf event. It was so special.
"So there probably is two things. Having the family there, winning any event but I would say to that it would be winning an Open Championship, I would be able to then have the celebration with the people closest to me like a day later or that night.”
With three top tens in six Open appearances, it would be no surprise if MacIntyre were to get his wish and hoist the Claret Jug before his career is over.
But whether he wins or not, one thing for certain is that he will enjoy being back to his golfing roots on the British Isles’ coastline.
“Links golf is what I know best,” he said. “It’s just hitting shots. We’re out there on the practice days and I'm hitting chip shots and it feels great to be able to land this thing 30 feet short and bump it up a bank and over the top of a hill.
“In the States I’m looking at Bermuda rough, trying to fly this thing out of the sky and it’s so out of the norm for me whereas this is more my cup of tea. I enjoy links golf even more now that I’m playing over in the States.”
