You can’t script Robert McIntyre’s redemption story at the Genesis Scottish Open.
A year after finishing runner-up to Rory McIlroy at Renaissance Club, McIntyre made a stunning late surge to play the final five holes in four under par to beat Adam Scott by one stroke.
His trajectory to greatness began on the scenic par-3 14th hole, when McIntyre thrilled the home crowd with a 41-foot birdie that gave him a 15-under par victory.
Then, two holes later, on the par-5 16th hole (the same hole he bogeyed a year earlier), MacIntyre made his biggest break of all time.
The Scotsman hit his drive to the right of the 16th fairway and the ball sank into deep, steep rough — the kind of fescue that often thrives on links-style golf courses and means painful hits when you hit the ball into it.
Birdie was tough and McIntyre needed it. At this point, McIntyre was two strokes behind Scott and saving par seemed no guarantee. Then McIntyre felt the head of a sprinkler hit him with his golf shoe and called for a rules official, who gave him free relief.
McIntyre hit a drop shot, which gave him a better lie and a chance to get to the green in two strokes, and then he launched an iron shot high from 247 yards, coming to rest six feet from the hole.
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He then sank an eagle putt to not only thrill the Scottish crowd but to move joint-top of the leaderboard with Scott, then two-putted for par on the par-3 17th hole and then more drama on Sunday on the tricky 488-yard par-4 72nd hole, played downwind.
McIntyre hit his tee shot down the right side of the fairway, setting him up at a good angle to the green, where the pin was waiting for him on the right side, and he hit his approach shot to 22 feet left of the hole for a relatively easy birdie chance.
Southpaw McIntyre considered it carefully, then stepped up and hit a shot online, but with barely perfect speed. His ball landed on the front side of the hole, giving McIntyre his long-awaited Scottish Open victory and sending the crowd into a frenzy.
The win marks MacIntyre’s second career PGA TOUR victory and his second this season. It also gives him two U.S. Open titles, as last month MacIntyre took home the RBC Canadian Open title with his father as his caddie. The win in Hamilton was emotional for a variety of reasons, not only because his greenskeeper father caddied for him, but also because MacIntyre faced a lot of adversity in his first full season on the PGA TOUR. MacIntyre admitted that he wishes he could spend more time in his native Scotland, despite feeling lonely and struggling to adjust to the American lifestyle.
But McIntyre won’t be sad anytime soon – this win was just as important as any other and he’ll be celebrating it for years to come.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow For more golf articles, follow us on Twitter Jack Mirko In the same way.
