When he arrived at the inaugural Myrtle Beach Classic in May, he was Robert MacIntyre, one of a field of second-tier PGA Tour players — the big guns in Charlotte at the “elevated” Wells Fargo Championship. His resume featured his membership on 2023’s winning European Ryder Cup team and ... well, not a lot else.
Robert MacIntyre, 27, from Oban, Scotland. No one special.
But this week, he arrived at the 152nd Open Championship as the hottest player on the planet not named Scottie Scheffler. In two months, he’s won two national championships — the Canadian Open in June, and last week’s Genesis Scottish Open — and is the darling of the Scottish fans patrolling the wet and chilly links at Royal Troon.
And now you can call him Bob, the name they know him by in his tiny (8,500) hometown just a short hop from Royal Troon. Or you can call him Bobby Mac, as UK tabloids have done.
He’s still soft-spoken, almost shy, and not prone to pronouncements about his ability. In Thursday’s opening round, he shot 1-over 72, six shots far behind leader Shane Lowry’s 5-under 66 . Still, if there’s a more popular player than MacIntyre this week, that guy hasn’t arrived yet.
He likes his chances this week (assuming he can shed a literal Scottish Open hangover ) because he’s learned some things about himself. For one, he’s rethinking a decision to leave Scotland to live and play in the United States as he pursues a PGA Tour career.
“I feel like a happy Bob MacIntyre is a dangerous Bob MacIntyre on the golf course,” he said. ”Home life makes me happy, and that’s why I’m probably going to go home after the next couple events. I’ll go home to Scotland rather than go to Orlando. I thought that moving to the U.S. was the only way of achieving my dreams in golf. I don’t know if that’s the answer.”
A Myrtle Beach beginning
So what happened? Ask MacIntyre and he’ll tell you: It all began at Myrtle Beach.
“To be honest, Myrtle Beach taught me not to try and win golf tournaments,” MacIntyre said. “Lower the expectation. (When) I teed it up on Sunday at Myrtle Beach, my goal was to win the golf tournament.”
MacIntyre tied for the first-round lead, and was just a shot behind eventual winner Chris Gotterup after 36 holes. He was still in second place, albeit by four shots, after Saturday. But Sunday, Gotterup blew away everyone in a six-shot victory. That included MacIntyre, who slumped that day to a rather lifeless 1-over 72 and tie for 14th.
He said that was a case of wanting it too badly.
“I teed it up on Sunday at Myrtle Beach, and my goal was to win the golf tournament,” he said. “I birdied the first (hole, and) everything’s great. (Then) I double-bogeyed the second (and then) I think the golf tournament’s gone.
“The minute you think that, your emotions are all over the place. You lose all control of yourself. You lose thought process, touch, everything, you lose it.”
Ultimately, though, there was a lesson learned. At the PGA Championship, “I did the complete opposite” of Myrtle Beach, he said. “I thought, I have a chance, but my job was not to do what I’d done at Myrtle Beach. That was just stay in the fight, stay calm.”
In Louisville, MacIntyre shot 13-under for a tie for eighth. “I didn’t play my best at the PGA, but then you play the last hole unbelievably, and you jump in the top 10,” he said. “That was a real light switch that made me think: You know what? The golf game isn’t the problem. I’m the problem.”
His breakthrough came at the Canadian Open. “I’m obviously in a great position all week, and I just stayed calm,” he said. “Obviously my dad” — Dougie MacIntyre, greenskeeper at their home club in Oban — “helped me with that.” His proud father was there with his son on Sunday, breaking into tears when Bobby Mac won the title.
Could things get any better for MacIntyre? Yes. His win last week came before a raucous, supportive home crowd.
“Last week, there was obviously so much hype, on Sunday especially,” he said, “and my job was just to stay calm and hit the golf shots that were required at the time. I did that, and thankfully everything kind of fell my way.”
How will he perform this week? That’s the question, of course. “I don’t know what limit I’ve got in golf. I don’t know where my limit is. I’m just trying my best every day to accept what score I get and work harder.”
Regardless, Bobby Mac knows this: “There’s no magic recipe to it,” he said. “It’s just stay out of my own way.”
The Open Championship leaders
Leaderboard through Round 1
1. Shane Lowry (-5)
2.. Daniel Brown (-4)
3. Justin Thomas (-3)
T4. Alex Noren (-2)
T4. Nicolai Hojgaard (-2)
T4. Justin Rose (-2)
T4. Russell Henley (-2)
T4. Xander Schauffele (-2)
T4. Joe Dean (-2)
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