NORTH BERWICK, SCOTLAND | Robert MacIntyre is an emotional fellow, and when he had a 22-foot putt at the 18th hole to avoid a playoff with Adam Scott in the Genesis Scottish Open on Sunday at the Renaissance Club, he had a tear in his eye even before he tackled it.
But he was happy with his “inside right edge” line, and just as happy to find that his hands were calm when he would have expected them to be “a bit jittery.” MacIntyre thought the ball was going to be one roll short, but in it went and how he yelled, losing his voice in the process. Then the crowd lost theirs as they embarked on their rendition of “O Flower of Scotland.”
MacIntyre signed for a 3-under-par 67 and an 18-under 262 total that was worth $1.62 million from the $9 million prize fund. He is projected to move from 44th to as high as 16th in the Official World Golf Ranking today.
The Scottish Open had been the title of MacIntyre’s dreams since the 27-year-old started to play the game. In truth, everyone in his family was as keen for him to win what his manager calls a “fifth major” as MacIntyre was himself, with his sisters going so far as to give up their pet pony to make competitive golf possible. Something which, of course, was not so easy for them in Oban on the west coast and far away from Scotland’s golfing heartland.
Yet if the finish was the stuff of magic, what happened to MacIntyre at the par-5 16th was beyond belief. At the time, he stood 14-under-par and two shots behind Scott, the Australian former world No. 1 whose golf was back to its supreme best. However, it looked as if the end was nigh for MacIntyre when the left-hander’s drive sailed into the worst of the right-hand rough.
“At best,” said Miguel Vidaor, the tournament director, “he could have only hacked it out a hundred yards.”
MacIntyre was still cursing his misfortune as he made a practice swing, unearthing a massive clump of rough. Then, as he moved into position to hit the ball, he heard a “clunk, clunk” underfoot. It was a noise which would never have happened but for the fact that he was one among only a small percentage of the field wearing metal spikes.
To his relief, he was standing on a sprinkler head, which meant that he could take a free drop. His caddie, Mike Burrow, could only laugh at what he was telling him.
Once the referee had confirmed that it was, indeed, a manmade obstruction, the Scot knocked a 6-iron out to 6 feet en route to an eagle that propelled him into a share of the lead.
“Up until the 14th,” said MacIntyre’s father, Dougie, who caddied for his son as he won the recent RBC Canadian Open for his first PGA Tour victory, “his putter had been dead. After that, there was no stopping him.”
MacIntyre’s finish over the last five holes: birdie, par, eagle, par, birdie. He joined Colin Montgomerie, the 1999 winner, as the only Scots to claim their national open since the tournament became part of the European Tour in 1972. It now is co-sanctioned by the PGA and DP World tours.
Dougie MacIntyre, the greenkeeper at Glencruitten Golf Club, was right about his son’s putting over the opening holes. Indeed, on the early holes, Ludvig Åberg, the overnight leader, and MacIntyre — the two were playing together — struggled to do anything to make the crowd cheer. Åberg, for his part, was hitting so many drives into the long and spiky rough that it began to look as if he might be comfortable in the stuff.
As for Rory McIlroy, who had won last year's Scottish Open by a shot from a heartbroken MacIntyre, he had his troubles on the greens. His confidence was patently still low after a deflating runner-up finish last month in the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, but at the same time, the putting surfaces were just too slow for his liking after Saturday's rain.
Three players – Englishmen Aaron Rai and Richard Mansell and Sweden’s Alex Noren – had the thrill of qualifying for the Open Championship and were on their way westward across the country to Royal Troon. MacIntyre, on the other hand, did not think he would make Troon by Monday. He planned to celebrate with his family in North Berwick.
“You’ve got to celebrate your wins,” he said.
Which, of course, is what he did when he returned to Oban after his Canadian Open triumph and shocked many Americans by not staying in the States to play in Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament.
Now they will know to expect this great competitor to do things his way.
Lewine Mair