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The Scot opens up after winning the RBC Canadian Open of the PGA Tour

MacIntyre, from his father’s mortgage to learning the Ryder

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Robert MacIntyre felicitando a su padre © PGA Tour
Robert MacIntyre felicitando a su padre © PGA Tour

Winning a PGA Tour tournament for the first time is a special moment in any golfer’s career. But doing so with your father as caddie becomes an absolutely indescribable sensation in which feelings and emotion are on the surface. This is what Robert MacIntyre experienced last night when, with more difficulties than expected after starting the last round with a four-stroke lead, he managed to conquer the RBC Canadian Open. A triumph that changes his perspective.

His celebration, in tears with his father, gave way to deeper reflections in the press room where, above all, he put his family: “It’s been incredible. Everything I’ve done in my life has been with the support of my family. Golf has been passed down from generation to generation, I learned it from my father, who luckily is a ‘greenkeeper’ in Oban, in Glencruitten, and we have a house where you cross the road to play four holes of the course. In summer, we used to go out every night, whatever the weather, to play them. That’s where he taught me to play golf”.

“This week, when I called him to come and caddie for me, the truth is I was just coming to play a golf tournament. There were no expectations, there was a lot to do with visas and so on during the week and winning the tournament with him on the bag is… To be honest, I still can’t believe it happened,” admitted the Scottish golfer, visibly moved at all times.

The victory, in addition to a cheque for more than 1.6 million dollars and playing rights for the next two years on the PGA Tour, will allow him to play the Memorial, the US Open and the Travelers. A situation that completely changes his schedule: “It changes everything. It’s my fifth consecutive tournament. I was planning to do the US Open qualification tomorrow, 36 holes with my father on the bag. Fortunately, that’s out of the plans. It’s a dream come true. It’s a dream come true and I can’t believe it happened with him on the bag. I mean, a lot has happened with the caddies and, obviously, I split from Scotty last week and came here, I was happy, I was in a good mindset, and I was just here to play golf, hit shots and add them up at the end. It wasn’t until later that I started looking at the leaderboards and seeing where I was”.

Robert learned a lot about himself this week in Ontario: “I knew I had a hell of a fight in me. I’ve been working hard, very hard, on the mental aspect of the game because once we analysed my golf, we knew that… or we realised that the game wasn’t the problem. The problem is me. I’ve worked very hard on that with my team and I’ve probably said it for the last four or five weeks that the mental aspect is very important to me”.

Will he play the Memorial this week? He hasn’t even decided yet: “Yes, well, I haven’t even spoken to my mother, my family, my team… I mean, I guess I’ll have to. Look, I’d love to go home and party, but I think we’ll probably play next week”.

Regarding the help his father has been to him at this time, MacIntyre said: “To be honest, it wasn’t really the focus. It was more the… I said it yesterday. He wants me to do well just because I have blood. Yes, he’s going to earn a good salary, and my mother and father will be mortgage-free now, life looks a bit better on that side of things, but he just wants me to do well because I’m his son, and there are no ulterior motives for it, there’s nothing. It’s just a fight for me. I mean, I also fight for him. On the last shot, when I hit that 7 iron, I saw him in the sky and knew it was never enough club, so I hit it as hard as I could and it was perfect. As soon as I hit it, I looked up, it was perfect, and I really had a lot of confidence, because I knew that was going to be close. I still had work to do, but I felt that the guy who taught me the game of golf well was going to win a tournament with me on my bag and that’s very special”.

For Robert this triumph comes at a time of maturity and after enjoying the Ryder Cup, which in his opinion, contributed to his growth as a golfer: “100%. The Ryder Cup helped me a lot and Justin Rose helped me a lot. I played with him on Sunday at the PGA Championship recently and observed the way he did things. We didn’t talk much when we were there because we both had work to do. He was doing very well. I wasn’t so much. But I observe and learn. When someone does something better than me, I observe, learn and draw conclusions from it. He also gave me some tips at the Ryder Cup. Yes, he’s one of the greatest British golfers in history. I got to play the Ryder Cup with him, but the whole experience of the Ryder Cup and being part of a winning team helped me a lot. Also, being a team sport, it also pushed me a bit more”.

Delving into his family, Robert explained how the moment was when he asked his father to caddie for him in Canada: “I don’t know, I think I was in a house in Dallas. But Scotty and I did well. We played… we made top 10 in Zurich with Detry. We had a chance to win in Myrtle Beach. But I didn’t feel the connection as much as I would have liked, but he did a great job. So I called my father and said: ‘Can you caddie?’. To be honest, I tried to get other people, but they didn’t want to do a one-week tournament, and I have a lot of decisions still to make for the future. My father is not going to do that full time. He’s going to go home and to the mowers, to work in Glencruitten. But, yes, when in doubt, call dad”.

In addition, as a result of a question, the Scotsman revealed the story of his parents, who are foster parents: “I think it makes you realise that hitting a white ball on a golf course is not the most important thing. I mean, I’ve cried over that, over the kids who walk away from you. They become family. They’ve been in a tough situation. I wasn’t given everything as a child. I was given a great opportunity. My father was obviously a great sportsman, football, golf, but he didn’t have the financial means to pursue it, and I think it was something my mother and father always wanted to do. I have two older sisters who love horses, horse riding and that stuff, but they even sacrificed a lot to give me a chance. I couldn’t play golf tournaments in my childhood because we couldn’t afford it. I think that made me, it makes me fight and never give up, I think I wasn’t given anything. I mean, I was given quite a bit. I was given the opportunity, but never… never fed me, I always fought for every bit”.

Recently, MacIntyre made a three-week trip through Scotland, his native country, a disconnection that seems to have been key to his success: “Look, I went home. I was struggling. My girlfriend wasn’t… we just weren’t enjoying the American lifestyle in Orlando that we thought would be best for my golf. To be honest, okay, the facilities are great at Isleworth, and I think it has helped my golf in many ways because of the way. But when I went home, I was there for three weeks, I touched the clubs twice in three weeks. I arrived in Zurich with a shoulder injury and thought: ‘I’m not going to play golf this week, because I’ve been playing shinty’. I took a couple of painkillers and didn’t tell Thomas anything. I just said, I have a sore shoulder, but we’ll be fine. It clears my mind to go home. I can spend time with the guys, have a couple of beers with them, and they treat me like Bob. And playing shinty at home, in Oban, they don’t treat me like golfer Bob MacIntyre, but like one of the guys”.

MacIntyre also spoke about his relationship with Rory McIlroy: “Rory is our role model. He’s a guy I’ve admired for many years. In fact, I sat with him and Shane in Zurich, and Rory asked me: ‘How are you enjoying United States?’. Obviously, he had seen some of the articles, and I said: ‘Rory, to be honest, I’ve been struggling’. We sat down and discussed it and, obviously, since the Ryder Cup we got along well. Shane and I are probably more similar human beings. But Rory is someone I admire, someone I can ask certain questions, and yes, he’s a role model”.

Finally, the winner of the RBC Canadian Open talked about what helped him most about having his father as a caddie: “Today? I think he’s done a great job all week. He kept telling me to stay in the fight, and in fact he told me, with four or five holes to go, that if we played one under par, they would have to come after me. He knows what to say, when to say it, and thought being here was a bit easier for his own mental health. But look, he’s the guy who taught me golf and knows my game inside out, and I can’t thank him enough for what he’s given me this week”.