NORTH BERWICK, Scotland — The Renaissance Club's sixteenth green is ready far below the sloping fairway directly on the Firth of Forth, so low that not a soul in the world could see the golfer standing within the Scottish dune grass taking five minutes to hit the ball. They knew nothing of metal spikes or hidden sprinkler heads. To them, Robert Macintyre was all but eliminated from the Scottish Open, trailing Adam Scott by two shots with three holes to go. The dream of a Scot winning his National Open would must wait one other 12 months. And yet they still stood across the green, waiting patiently, clinging to a combination of politeness and hope.
When a ball appeared from the dark, cloudy sky and bounced off the slope of the par 5 green, there was confusion.
“Is that Bob?” asked a fan.
“Bob?” one other called.
Scotsman Ross Gray was the volunteer who found the tee shot within the dune grass. The ball had no likelihood. He then walked to the green to arrange for the subsequent shot. When he saw the ball bounce and roll slowly up until it was only 2 metres from the pin, even Gray said: “That has to be his fourth, right?” But little by little the realisation spread like a wave through the semi-circle of fans that it was Macintyre, until a disproportionate roar erupted along the east coast of Scotland.
“Bobby! Bobby! Bobby!” they chanted as Macintyre finally appeared, coming down the hill together with his hand raised.
And so Bob from Oban made an eagle on the sixteenth hole to tie the lead. From that moment on, it could only end a technique. Bob Macintyre needed to win his National Open. Thirty minutes later, he was screaming so loudly that he almost lost his voice.
“I was raised to fight for everything,” Macintyre said, “and I just fought for it.”
Dougie Macintyre arrived from Oban late on Friday evening. “My father is a negative person,” joked Macintyre – a lot in order that the top greenkeeper at Glencruitten Golf Club is not going to make the trip from the west coast of Scotland until he is certain his son will make the cut. It was not until the fifteenth hole of the second round that Dougie, who had caddied for his son during his victory on the Canadian Open last month, felt comfy.
Dougie is a proud but shy man, a talented shinty player and golfer who never had the possibility to pursue his dreams further. He and his wife Carol raised a family near the twelfth tee at Glencruitten, overlooking hills and fairways very just like those Macintyre just broke through with an eagle on Sunday. They had 4 children of their very own. Many more foster children, including a boy they’ve taken care of for the past six or seven years. And Dougie passed on the games he likes to his children.
GREAT SCOTSMAN!!! 🏴
@Robert1Lefty wins the @ScottishOpen with a roar that could be heard throughout Scotland! pic.twitter.com/Fe20zt6lcv— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 14, 2024
Maybe, just perhaps, they’d be higher at realising those dreams than he was. Bob was a special talent and the members knew he was different when he outperformed the adults and hit his first ace at 12. But Dougie and Carol couldn't afford to send Bob all around the UK to play in countless junior tournaments like most of his peers did.
Sometimes club members and mentors helped out financially. Macintyre's sisters were talented riders, and the family owned a horse that they may compete on. They needed to sell the horse, Molly, to manage to pay for to send Bob to the few shows he was in a position to compete in.
He was never the sexy young talent. He didn't have the hype that amateur victories or college success brought him. He slowly worked his way up the ranks, and even when he routinely qualified for the 2023 Ryder Cup, he was met with skepticism.
“Your face doesn't quite fit because you're not a centrally built guy,” Macintyre said, “and I just have to work on that. The most important thing for me was to never give up. A lot of people might say, 'He's not quite got this, he's not quite got that,' but I've got a fighting spirit and that's all I need.”
But there Macintyre stood, teeing off on the 18th with a likelihood to win the Scottish Open. Unlike the 12 months before – when Macintyre birdied the ultimate hole only to be snatched from his hands by Rory McIlroy a set later – the struggling Scot had his fate in his hands. He got here to the 14th hole three shots behind and seemed out of contention. But he made the 41-foot birdie putt on the 14th. Thanks to a hidden sprinkler under his feet, he made the epic eagle from the dune grass on the sixteenth. The rating was tied.
Macintyre isn’t probably the most imposing of individuals. He has a friendly, pale face that welcomes you, but he doesn’t appear like a top athlete. He began the day playing in the ultimate group with 24-year-old rising phenom Ludvig Åberg, and watched the 6-foot-3 Swede quit a two-shot lead on the back nine and quickly fall out of contention. Handsome Australian veteran Adam Scott, the opposite man at 17 under par, waited within the scorekeeper's tent after missing his 14-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole. It was Macintyre who won.
Again, Macintyre found himself in light rough just off the golf green. A pitching wedge was all he needed. He hit a steep left-to-right draw that landed in the course of the green, leaving him with a double-breaking 14-foot putt for Scottish immortality. He also felt oddly comfortable standing above it.
And when the ball went in, grown men hugged one another and cried. His whole family hugged him. Soon the stands were singing “Flower of Scotland” in unison.
Macintyre dropped his club and screamed at the highest of his lungs, thrusting his hips and clenching his fists. He walked over to his caddie so Åberg could finish his putt, then looked up on the sky in disbelief together with his hands over his brow. He crouched down and fought back tears.
Macintyre was the primary Scottish golfer to win the National Open in 25 years.
“That’s what I wanted,” he said.
It will likely be a “good west coast cèilidh” in Glencruitten, because the locals of Oban prefer to say.
“The recovery could take a few long days and we expect Bob tomorrow with the trophy,” member John Tannehill said Sunday evening.
A reporter then mentioned to Macintyre that he was resulting from have a press conference at Royal Troon on Monday at 3pm for the Open Championship, also in Scotland. He paused for a moment after which said cautiously:
“I think there might be a change in the timetable. I don't think I'm fit enough to get to Troon. I don't think I'll be required to drive then.”
Robert Macintyre is the primary Scot to win the National Open in 25 years. (Luke Walker / Getty Images)
Oban welcomed Bob and gave him a breakthrough. In return, he put the town within the highlight. Reporters often come here to inform Bob's story. Glencruitten has seen an influx of individuals wanting to play at Macintyre's home ground. There are signs all around the town: “The Home of Bob Macintyre.”
When he moved to Florida this 12 months to play on the PGA Tour and prepare year-round, as most great golfers do in some unspecified time in the future, he was not glad. This summer he often talked about losing his “mojo” and the way different life on the PGA Tour was in comparison with the European golf scene.
Just on Wednesday, Macintyre announced that he wouldn’t be raising his rent in Orlando. It was not value it. He is moving back to Scotland and can travel back to the US sooner or later.
In the week he officially returned to his homeland and his inner truth, Macintyre won the National Open against a field that included lots of the most effective players on the earth. He left home to be great. He got here back to prove he already was.
And all this just five days after two Scotsmen walked up Glencruitten's steep twelfth fairway and onto the green and turned to point to the house where Macintyre grew up. These men had flown with Macintyre to Rome to observe him play within the Ryder Cup and played a round with him on the Tuesday after he won the Canadian Open in June.
One of the lads, Declan Curran, joked that Macintyre was downplaying the pressure, but they wanted him to do the double and win the Scottish and Open Championships in two consecutive weeks of their home country. They laughed, but they believed it.
Macintyre is already halfway there, but he will likely be glad with it perpetually.
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