Robert MacIntyre fawns over Andy Murray, played alongside ‘sporting idol’ in DP World Tour Pro-Am

Scotsman Robert MacIntyre and Englishman Andy Murray teed it up together in the BMW PGA Championship Pro-Am at Wentworth. Robert MacIntyre vividly remembers watching the final match of the 2013 Wimbledon Championships, living and dying with every single shot. Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, the latter of whom MacIntyre called a Scottish ‘Sporting Idol,’ rifled back and forth, entertaining the world on the famous Centre Court grass.

But unlike the 2012 Wimbledon Championships, when he lost to Roger Federer, Murray beat Djokovic, knocking off the top player in the world who currently has a record 24 major titles.

So when Murray won in the third set, thus becoming the first Briton to win Wimbledon since 1936 and end a 77-year drought, MacIntyre and his father celebrated gleefully. Perhaps they did not celebrate as much as they did after this year’s RBC Canadian Open—and nothing touches the extravaganza they had after his Genesis Scottish Open victory—but the MacIntyre’s felt a great sense of national pride, and rightfully so. A Scotsman had achieved international glory, doing something that had not been done since before World War II.

Now, eleven years after that incredible triumph, MacIntyre played with Murray in the Wednesday Pro-Am before this week’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, which is only 23 miles west of Wimbledon.

The two Scottish stars talked all day. MacIntyre picked Murray’s brain about competitiveness, desires, and his three major championship conquests—something MacIntyre hopes to win someday, too.

“Obviously, the mechanics are completely different,” MacIntyre said.

“But we are individual. We’ve got our own teams. It’s as close as we are going to get to the game of golf.”

Indeed, tennis and golf share plenty of similarities. Both sports have four major championships that rank above all else; both are individual sports and involve hitting a ball with a club or a racquet. Both also produce plenty of nerves.

“I was pretty nervous,” Murray admitted.

“I couldn’t really feel my arms and legs. I didn’t really hit any balls on the range beforehand. Yeah, I was feeling it. But it got better. It got better as the round went on.”