Robert MacIntyre handed Ryder Cup audition with Luke Donald 

Robert MacIntyre has been offered the perfect audition to impress European captain Luke Donald in the penultimate Ryder Cup qualifying event.

MacIntyre, who currently occupies the final qualifying place in the European Points List, will tee it up alongside Donald in the first two rounds of this week’s D+D Real Czech Masters.

The Scot, who surged into the automatic berths with his runner-up finish at the Genesis Scottish Open, requires a strong week in Prague in order to cling onto his place in the team as the showdown in Rome looms.

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Germany’s Yannik Paul and Poland’s Adrian Meronk are both close to usurping MacIntyre, who must bounce back from a missed cut at last week’s ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland.

But MacIntyre will not get a better chance to prove his worth as a Ryder Cup debutant than performing in front of Donald as the European skipper looks to finalise his six captain’s picks.

MacIntyre and Donald will be joined in their opening rounds in the Czech capital by outside Ryder Cup hopeful Alexander Bjork.

The third spot in the European list is effectively the final automatic place up for grabs before Donald makes his wildcard selections after the Omega European Masters in Switzerland.

Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Viktor Hovland have all qualified and the remaining places on the world points list will be filled by two of Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrrell Hatton.

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The English trio, along with Austrian hopeful Sepp Straka, are preparing to tee it up at the Tour Championship, the PGA Tour’s money-spinning FedEx Cup at East Lake.

So that leaves a DP World Tour dogfight for the remaining spot in Donald’s team, and the captain has three of his assistants on site in Prague to keep tabs on his contenders.

While Donald is grouped with MacIntyre and Bjork, his vice-captain Nicolas Colsaerts will play alongside Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal and fellow Belgian Adrien Dumont de Chassart.

Eduardo Molinari is playing alongside Paul and Rasmus Hojgaard, while brother Francesco, who was last week named as Donald’s fifth vice-captain, will get a closer look at Nicolai Hojgaard and Ludvig Aberg.

The D+D Real Czech Masters takes place at the Albatross Golf Resort in Prague from August 24-27.

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.