HAMILTON, Ontario — Dad knows best.
That’s what happened to Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre through the first 36 holes of the RBC Open, where he went bogey-free with his father, Dougie, in the care of him as his emergency caddie.
“He jumped at the opportunity,” the PGA Tour rookie said of his father, who works as a turfgrass superintendent at the Glencrutton Golf Course in his hometown of Oban, Scotland. “It was nice to be able to spend an extra week with his family.”
McIntyre shot a 4-under 66 on Friday at Hamilton Golf and Country Club to improve to 10-under 130 and take the lead going into the second round.
McIntyre had been using caddie Mike Burrows while his old caddie Danny Willett was out injured earlier this season and had a five-week trial with Scott Carmichael, but the two parted ways last week when McIntyre missed the cut. He called his father on Saturday and asked him to fill in for the week and flew out the next day. It was the first time McIntyre had his father, a good golfer himself, caddie since he caddied at the DP World Tour Qualifying School seven years ago.
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“We did a good job,” McIntyre said. “He was learning on the run and I tried to stay calm. When I missed a shot, I didn’t get too mad.”
So far, there haven’t been too many irritations. He birdied three of his first four holes Thursday to finish with a 64, and he said he was keeping things simple for his father. “He’s a little over his head,” McIntrye said.
McIntyre knew Hamilton was a hilly course, so he walked nine holes in the rain Monday with his usual tour bag and then bought a lightweight bag with a stand from Titleist for his father. McIntyre said his 59-year-old father was in good shape to play 18 holes, but he also planned to play in the U.S. Open qualifier next Monday in Toronto. (Doug McIntyre declined to comment for this story, saying, “Bob instructed me not to do that.”)
Robert MacIntyre hits his shot from the 18th tee during the second round of the 2024 RBC Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf and Country Club. (Photo: Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
“I thought it would be a bit unpleasant for my dad to play 36 holes with a travel bag on his back, so I went easy on him a little bit,” he said.
McIntyre also went easy on himself. He has found adjusting to life on the PGA Tour lonely, and he has only been home for three weeks since Jan. 3, so having his father by his side this week has been a multiple benefit.
McIntyre has three top-10 finishes this season, most notably a tie for eighth at the PGA Championship earlier this month. McIntyre attributes his recent strong performances to a mindset adjustment. Asked why the adjustment was needed, he said: “Because I feel like my game hasn’t changed in the last four or five years. Nothing has changed. The only thing that’s changed this year is that I’m playing in a PGA Tour environment instead of the DP World Tour environment. So, my game can play anywhere in the world, and I’ve known that since my first time playing the British Open and the Masters. Something was holding me back. Something was holding me back from playing. I feel like I had a bad start to the year. [He missed three of his first four cuts.] Something stopped me.
“We dig into the numbers and stuff and we’re like, ‘Everything is good here, what is it?’ Then you have to look at yourself, you have to look in the mirror and say, ‘You might be the problem.’ We sat down and talked about it and I think I had an attitude problem. Now I’m working on that and trying to stay calm and handle whatever might be going on.”
By now, Canadian fans have come to regard the left-hander as one of their own.
One fan shouted: “The left rules everything!”
“Absolutely!” said another.
Dougie was at the top of the leaderboard, and his father was doing his best to keep up with his son. As they walked off the final green after a undulating even-par round, Dougie turned to his son and jokingly said, “I think I might need to negotiate a salary this week.”
