It’s a wonder he knows where or who he is. And it's preparation that might mark MacIntyre’s chances, in the parlance of the horse racing tipster, “prefer others”.

But then you see him swing the golf club, languidly, powerfully, and you watch the ball whistle away down the fairway. You watch him make effortless birdies including an up-and-down through a tree. His physique doesn’t scream athlete, but Bobby MacIntyre is the Iron Man from Oban.

We’re following MacIntyre in a Wednesday pro-am group in which he’s partnered by Brisbane Broncos players Adam Reynolds and Corey Oates, and former Manly and Maroons forward, the popular broadcaster, Paul ‘Fatty’ Vautin. And it's the league legends who are in thrall.

“The big difference between us who love golf, whether we play off six, or 15 or 22, is the sound that the ball makes off the club,” Vautin says. “When Robert hits the ball it’s a completely different sound to what we hit. He’s flushing every drive and the sound of it is fantastic … he’s hitting it 60-70 metres past us.”

Indooroopilly member Oates watches every golf tour on TV. He says it’s a “privilege” to play with MacIntyre. “It’s actually a dream come true. It’s really cool to be playing with someone so good. From watching him on TV to watching it in person, it’s really cool.”

On the short par-4 12th MacIntyre blocks a three-wood left on the drive-able par-4 12th, ending up pin-high, roughly where Cam Smith was last year before ripping off a ridiculous up-and-down for birdie. McIntyre’s faced with a similar proposition, except his ball must go through a diamond-shape hole in the boughs of a Queensland oak.

Vautin is a single-figure handicapper at The Grand on the Gold Coast but he’d have been thinking to run a 7-iron back onto the fairway, somewhere near the green. McIntyre, though, wafts a wedge through the gap, lightly brushes the eucalypts before landing lightly on the green to about six feet.

MacIntyre, 27, has family in Melbourne but hasn’t been a frequent visitor to Australia. He played a few times as an amateur on the Sandbelt and played the 2018 PGA Championship at Royal Pines. The Pro-Am is his first full go around Royal Queensland after arriving on Monday night from Dubai.

"There’s a lot of space off the tee," MacIntyre tells Golf Australia magazine. "There are a certain number of holes where it’s tight off the tee like this hole here [the 454 metre par-4 14th]. But it’s really iron play this week and missing in the right spots. That's where my caddy will earn his money by managing finish points. Sometimes missing the green is better than hitting it.

"It’s one of those weeks if you drive it well, you iron-play well, you’re going to have lots of chances."

In the trees on the right on 14 MacIntyre hits a flat and sizzling little draw, the ball doesn’t get above waist height and rolls out for 180m to the front. Shot Tracer would show a long, flat and stinging worm-burner. 

And onwards we roll and MacIntyre and the league players swap sports stories and talk about golf not at all. Reynolds and MacIntyre both follow Manchester United.

MacIntyre says he enjoys “speaking to guys in different sports. We’re more about rugby union back home. Rugby league’s not a sport we play a lot of in Oban.”

The league men are happy to help the visitor with Australian popular culture.

Paul "Fat Man" Vautin puts on his game face in the PGA Championship Pro-Am. PHOTO: PGA of Australia

Says Vautin with a laugh: “He asks me, ‘Is it right people are calling you ‘Fatty’? ‘Why do they call you Fatty? Because you’re not fat, man.’

"I said ‘You want me to show you why?’ And he took a bit of humour in that.

“But no, he’s a good fellah. He’s no.56 in the world, he’s 27. The world’s at his feet. He’s playing with Cameron Smith and Min Woo Lee tomorrow. He said he hasn’t met either of them or played with them.”

You sense it won't faze our man from Oban.