Oban golfer Robert MacIntyre is trying to put a potential 3 million dollar prize to the back of his mind after an opening round of 68 at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
The Scot is four under after 18 holes of the Race to Dubai finale after a round containing six birdies and two bogeys.
A win would see MacIntyre, who was three under after three holes at Jumeirah Golf Estates, net a sum roughly equal to his total European Tour career winnings so far.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: “You’re aware of it. Me and (caddy) Mike (Thomson) have a good laugh about it.
“But it’s something at the end of the journey. I can’t do anything about the 3 million dollars, I can only hit a good tee shot off the first tomorrow, then see where we are come Sunday afternoon.
“Hopefully I’ve got that in the bank!”
MacIntyre said he didn’t feel he was driving the ball well enough during today’s round, but an approach of “if you’re in position, go at it. If you’re not, you play the percentages and try to make par” paid dividends.
On his desire to get even better over the next three days, despite the quality of his opening round, MacIntyre added: “It’s all about trying to have a complete game. I feel my putting’s come on leaps and bounds in the last eight weeks, my stats were horrific at the start of the year, now they’re coming on.
“Last week I had the best putting round I’ve had in my life.
“If you’ve got the putter going, it doesn’t matter where you hit it – you’re going to hole.
“That’s the attitude I’ve been taking the last couple of weeks.”
