Bob MacIntyre secured his first victory on the PGA Tour just five months into his first full season appearance on the topflight US circuit after winning the Canadian Open in fine style – and with his dad on hand to carry out caddying duties.
The 27-year-old Scot, who had only admitted last month that he was struggling to cope with the demands of being away from home and his friends for such long periods, decided to ask his father, Dougie, a part-time greenkeeper in Scotland, to take over bag duties this week in order to give him a lift after finding life on tour tough going despite putting in some decent performances, including an eighth place finish at last month’s PGA Championship.
DAD ON THE BAG DOES THE TRICK
And the decision to give the bag to dad proved to be an inspired one, with MacIntyre Jnr putting in a championship-winning performance, with his 16-under-par total being good enough for a one-shot win over American Ben Griffin.
Holding a five-shot lead with seven holes to play, that comfortable advantage was whittled away by the chasing pack, which also included Rory McIlroy, who closed with a 64, but MacIntyre, an unbeaten debutant at last year’s Ryder Cup, showed great mental strength down the stretch to hold off all-comers, with the left-hander firing a closing two-under 68 to keep his head in front at Hamilton Golf & Country Club and secure a $1.6m payday – the biggest of his career.
“I had a hell of a fight in me,” he said. “I’ve been working really hard on the mental side of the game because once we picked apart my game of golf, we realised that my golf isn’t the problem, I’m the problem. I’ve worked hard at that with my team, and it has probably paid off over the last four or five weeks.”
Asked what he might do with the handsome reward, Macintyre said he would use some of it to pay off his parents’ mortgage as a small token in recognising the huge part they played in getting him to this point in his career.
“I couldn’t play in golf tournaments as a junior because we couldn’t afford it,” MacIntyre reflected. “I think that made me. That makes me fight and never give up. My parents gave me the opportunity, but never was I spoon fed, I was always fighting for every bit of it.”
“Dad’s going to get a nice pay check out of it. I think I’ve got to get rid of some money just now for tax reasons, but he’ll do nicely out of it. He deserves it. My mum and dad will be mortgage-free now, and life’s looking a little bit better on that side of things for them.”
TEARS FLOWED ON THE 18TH
With both player and caddie in tears on the 18th green, post-match interviews were emotionally-filled affairs.
“He was a caddie for the week, but at the end of the day, he’s my dad,” MacIntyre added. “He just wants me to do well because I’m his son, and there’s no angles to it, there’s nothing. The emotion at the end, it was just almost out of sheer disbelief that we did it with him on the bag. It just shows that I can compete at the top level. I always knew I could, but until you do it, you really don’t know.”
And a pep talk by his dad proved vital in his win, with MacIntyre revealing: “He was having a wee go at me when I was walking from the tenth tee down to the fairway. Look, he was a sporting guy, he knows how to win, knows how to lose, he’s been through it all.”
Victory also earned MacIntyre a place in next week’s Memorial Tournament – which he plans on skipping in order to celebrate with family and friends back at home in Oban – as well as a spot in the following week’s US Open at Pinehurst, which gets under way on June 13.