Connor Syme savours 'cool' eagle-2 at The Belfry's 10th as Bob MacIntyre comes a cropper at iconic hole

Connor Syme and Bob MacIntyre had contrasting fortunes on the iconic tenth hole at The Belfry in the third round of the Betfred British Masters.

Syme admitted it had felt “cool” to make an eagle-2 on a day when the tee had been moved forward in a bid to tempt players to go for the green.

He was still smiling after going on to sign for a second successive 68, which moved him to six-under in an event being hosted for the second year running by Danny Willett at the Ryder Cup venue.

“I just like mullered a 3-wood that was all over it and I just fancied the putt, to be fair,” said Syme of matching Sam Horsfield earlier in the day by starting for home with that special eagle.

“It was just one of those little moments where you think, ‘it would be cool to make a 2 on this hole’. It was a big swinging left-to-righter from 30-odd feet and right in the middle.”

In the opening two rounds, especially at 298 yards on Friday, it had been a lay up, but not necessarily with it playing at 265 yards.

“You get there when the tee is up and you go, ‘it’s a 3-wood and maybe even a 7-wood’,” added Syme. “They’ve got it set up perfectly in terms of making you have a go at it.”

MacIntyre was four-under - one better than Syme had been - when he arrived on that tenth tee, but, in contrast to his compatriot, his experience proved painful.

Also deciding to go for the green, the left-hander found the bank on the left of the green and, with the ball well below his feet, plopped the second shot in the water, leading to a double-bogey 6.

The steam was coming out of MacIntyre’s ears as he twice slapped his glove against the leg of his trousers on his way off the green and it went from bad to worse.

He then ran up a triple-bogey 7 at the 11th and, almost