Battling Bob MacIntyre still afloat in Canada ahead of sink or swim US Open test
Scottish star scraps in Friday round in his Canada effort
Battling Bob MacIntyre scrapped to keep himself afloat in his defence of the RBC Canadian Open.
The Scottish star endured a frustrating second day at TPC Toronto in his quest to go back-to-back at the prestigious event.
MacIntyre made a strong start to the tournament with opening round of 65, but he was unable to make further steps forward in his next effort.
The Oban star started positively enough with a birdie at his first hole. However, a double at the next and three more dropped shots left him hovering dangerously close to the cut mark with a third of his round remaining.
MacIntyre needed to show his quality and fighting spirit to stave off any more setbacks and picked up a couple of shots in that closing half-dozen holes for a 72 to get it back to a score of three-under par at the halfway stage and safely into the weekend.
With 36 holes to go, the Scot faces a mammoth task to get his trophy back with leader Cameron Champ setting a midway mark of 12-under, nine ahead of last year's winner.
But, with the US Open looming at Oakmont next week, MacIntyre's grit and determination to stay in the battle offers encouragement for the third major of the campaign in Pennsylvania.
The Tartan star has more work to do in Canada, but looking ahead, he has urged the USGA to make the US Open a fair test as he admits he might not enjoy Oakmont.
MacIntyre will be the country's sole representative and, having been made aware about the perils of the track, admits tournament organisers need to find the right balance between tough and fair.
He explained: 'From what I'm hearing, I don't know if I'm going to enjoy it. I don't think anyone's going to enjoy it unless you're holding the trophy at the end of the week. But going back to these historical golf courses, I'm a big believer in lengths of golf courses.
'I talk about all this modern technology and stuff. We're talking about how long rounds of golf are taken because of lengths of golf courses. 7,800 yards with five-inch-thick rough. So I don't know if I'm the sort of guy that'll enjoy it unless I'm up there competing at the top end. It's going to be an absolute grind from the start.'
Speaking to Sky, he added: 'You can [enjoy it]. I mean, I don't want to get too much into it, but if it's set up right, if the fairways are wide enough, then you can have as thick or rough as you want. If the fairways are wide enough, I'm fair game.
'But when we went to Winged Foot, the fairways weren't wide enough. So it just fed into the hands of who's going to hit it the furthest, the longest guys, who's going to chip it the best out of them 15 guys. I know there's a bit more to it than that, but that's the way it feels.
'At Oakmont, I know there's no trees and it's just so open, but hopefully the fairways have got enough width that we can play golf, so that then if you are going to go into the five-inch thick rough, it's a bad tee shot, which I'm fair game. I do like a tough test, but let's make it a fair, tough test.'
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