Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre wins Genesis Scottish Open with birdie on final hole

NORTH BERWICK, Scotland – He had time to let the celebration build, the ball rolling 22 feet, 1 inch before tumbling over the front lip on its last rotation as a wave of noise went up around the 18th green.

Robert MacIntyre of Oban, on Scotland’s west coast, who has said all along that this was the one he wanted, and who got denied only by Rory McIlroy here a year ago, would not be denied on this day. MacIntyre dropped his putter and spun around to face the packed grandstands, hands thrust skyward, before delivering a vintage Tiger uppercut.

You can’t crowd-source the result of a golf tournament, but, well, maybe sometimes you can.

“I'm from a working-class background,” MacIntyre said after he birdied the 18th hole to shoot 67 and beat Adam Scott (67) by one at the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club. “I've got two older sisters my parents foster. We've got a foster boy just now that's been with us for six, seven years. I was given a great opportunity by my whole family.

“We used to have a horse for my sisters, and couldn't afford to do both,” he continued, “and my sisters gave up the horse and gave me a chance to go and travel some within Britain.”

You can take the Scot out of Scotland, but not the Scotland out of the boy. MacIntyre, who took up PGA TOUR membership this year via his spot in the DP World Tour top 10 last season, has struggled with homesickness this year. He tried Florida, joining Isleworth, but will not renew his lease, he said this week. He’s happiest on home soil.

Never was that truer than Sunday. The crowd chanted, “Robert! Robert, Robert!” They broke into song. Someone cued the bagpipes as MacIntyre soaked in his second win (RBC Canadian Open) in his last five starts in front of a happy throng of friends and family.

He is projected to move from 39th to 16th in the FedExCup.

“It’s unbelievable,” MacIntyre said. “My reaction when that ball dropped on 18 said it all. I’ve almost lost my voice now. It’s the one I wanted and the one I got.”

And what of the reaction of his inner circle?

“There was a couple of swear words along with shock,” he said. “I just thanked them. All the boys, my mates were there, and we were just having a laugh and stuff. I just thanked my mom and dad. It's just incredible to be able to do this.”

MacIntyre went into the day two behind playing partner and Ryder Cup teammate Ludvig Åberg (73, T4) but wound up chasing 43-year-old Adam Scott on the back nine. The turning point came at the par-5 16th hole, where MacIntyre lost his drive to the right. In that instant, it seemed as if the tournament was slipping away from him. He was already two behind, and now he was in the thick rough, with not much of a second shot.

That’s when the front three spikes of his shoe, the only ones that are metal, saved him.

“I'm shouting and I'm swearing when I'm getting up to the ball,” MacIntyre said, “because I know that that's my chance to really make birdie coming in. I got over the ball, looked at it, thinking, I'm in a bit of trouble here. Might manage to move it maybe a hundred yards. As I took a step back … I just heard the clunk.”

He asked caddie Mike Burrow, “When I get up to the golf ball, am I standing on that sprinkler?”

Burrow laughed and said he was.

“It was just a lucky break,” MacIntyre said. “You use the rules to get advantage. You stand on a sprinkler, you’re due relief. That was just the one kiss I needed.”

After a drop, he took full advantage. From 248 yards, he hit a laser-like second shot straight at the pin, the ball stopping just 6 feet away for eagle. He made it, and there were two at the top, one Scott (Adam) and one Scot (MacIntyre). The stage was set for his theatrics on 18 – a birdie to set the home crowd on its ear for the second straight year.

A year ago, MacIntyre hit a sensational 3-wood into the teeth of the wind on the 18th hole to set up what looked like the winning birdie. It was the shot of the tournament for less than an hour. McIlroy birdied 17 and, with a 2-iron that has been immortalized with a plaque, hit his own spectacular approach to set up a birdie on 18 to all but steal the tournament.

MacIntyre wound up being a sidebar, the storybook ending that wasn’t. Earlier this week he wondered aloud if he would get another chance, and was hardly on a heater, having missed the cut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in his last start.

Now, though, he’s gotten that chance and capitalized, atoning for last year while living the dream of every Scottish junior golfer. McIlroy (68), by the way, tied for fourth. MacIntyre planned a robust celebration with family friends at their rental house, followed by the two-hour drive to Royal Troon for The Open Championship.

How will he come down from this?

The question seemed to be a nod to The Open, which starts Thursday, and MacIntyre considered it. Maybe he thought about his sisters who gave up that horse. Or his dad the greenskeeper, who caddied for him in his emotional first PGA TOUR win at the RBC Canadian Open last month. Or perhaps he flashed back to his delirious friends, who made the three-hour drive from Oban to all but carry him around on their shoulders this week.

How will he come down from this? MacIntyre shook his head.

“I don't think I will,” he said.