With far more difficulties than expected, Robert MacIntyre (-16) has achieved victory in the RBC Canadian Open, a PGA Tour tournament held this week at the Hamilton Golf & Country Club in Ontario. The Scottish golfer, who started this Sunday with a four-stroke lead in the standings, had the tournament in his hand for almost his entire round, although in the end he had to suffer greatly to resist the push of Victor Perez (-14), Rory McIlroy (-13), Tom Kim (-13) and, above all, Ben Griffin (-15), who nearly made a comeback in the last four holes.
This was the first victory for MacIntyre on the PGA Tour and the second this season for one of the 10 players who earned their card through the European circuit, after Matthieu Pavon‘s at the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this year. With this title, Robert pockets a sensational cheque for 1,612,000 dollars, places himself among the top 40 in the world golf ranking, earns a spot in the upcoming designated events and in the US Open in a couple of weeks and, above all, secures playing rights for another two seasons on the tour.
A deserved, hard-earned and very family victory, with his father acting as caddie, but as we say, he had to fight until the end. Because although everything was going smoothly for the two-time winner of the DP World Tour, things got more complicated than expected in the second half of his round. Robert had started the day with a bogey, although he quickly put things right with birdies at 4, 7 and 8. He nearly had the fourth of the day at 9, with a three-metre putt that didn’t want to go in, and at 10, with another from just under four that stayed on the edge. And at 11, when it seemed most difficult, he didn’t miss with a tremendous birdie putt from seven metres…
9 feet for the win.
It all comes down to this for @Robert1Lefty. pic.twitter.com/biMtvbQP4A
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 2, 2024
However, just when everything was under control, a mistake from the 12th tee, sending his ball out of bounds to miraculously save the bogey after a great recovery from the penalty area, and another mistake at 13, with his second consecutive bogey, caused him to worry about leaving behind a trophy that seemed to be in his pocket, just like what happened at the Scottish Open against Rory McIlroy. The usual stage fright that gave wings to his rivals, who saw a glimmer of opportunity when everything seemed settled just a short time before.
This time, despite his great 64 on Sunday, the Northern Irishman was penalised by a Friday in which he couldn’t play under 70 strokes. It was difficult to make a comeback. For Kim, something similar: his start on Thursday with 70 strokes was not easy to recover from given the high production of birdies in the tournament. So it was Frenchman Victor Perez who first put real pressure on MacIntyre by leaving the clubhouse with an interesting 14 under par, just one stroke behind the 15 under that the Scot was at that point in his round.
Robert‘s reaction came at the par four 15th, playing to the centre of the fairway from the tee and pulling out a great iron shot to leave himself a birdie putt of less than two metres which he holed. However, once again, just when everything seemed on track, Ben Griffin emerged to remind MacIntyre how hard his victories have always been… While the American was making birdies at 15, 16 and 17 to place himself just one stroke behind the leader, the Scot made par at 16, struggled greatly to do so at the par five 17th after visiting the rough twice, and had to play his hand at 18.
Griffin‘s drive was good, down the left of the fairway. More pressure for Robert. But luck sided with the Scot with a wood shot that went to the right, but after bouncing in the rough returned to the fairway. His approach was better than Ben‘s, leaving himself a birdie putt, while his rival failed to hit the green. Two putts were enough for him, at the age of 27, to tearfully open his tally of victories on the PGA Tour. A title celebrated with great emotion alongside his father and girlfriend that also opens the doors to next summer’s playoffs and undoubtedly changes his life.
An emotional winning moment for father and son 🥹
@Robert1Lefty is a champion @RBCCanadianOpen with dad Dougie on the bag. pic.twitter.com/MRfEZiPikp— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 2, 2024
“I was looking for a caddie and found a greenkeeper,” he said half jokingly, half seriously as soon as the tournament ended. Neither he nor his father could stop crying for a while, which reflects how important this victory is for Robert. A success that Jorge Campillo (+2) will have to continue seeking in the future after a week in which the putter has drastically penalised his great tee-to-green game. Nothing has worked for him on the greens, he finished tied for 62nd and will now return to Europe to play the Scandinavian Mixed in Sweden with the challenge of trying to get into the Olympic Games. It’s his last card…
For now, the second place for Paris 2024, accompanying Jon Rahm, is for David Puig. The deadline closes after the US Open in a couple of weeks. But neither Campillo, nor Nacho Elvira nor Adrián Otaegui are qualified for the third major of the season, so they are playing their hand this coming week while Puig will play the US Open qualifier this Monday…
