Robert MacIntyre is on the verge of a career-defining win … even if he won't say it
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ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – Eighty miles up the coast from North Berwick, says a caddy named Ian.
And speaking.
It's a caddy's job to break the silence and sound of a round of golf, and Ian clearly takes this job very seriously. It's Saturday afternoon at the Home of Golf – The Old Course in St. Andrews – which means the pace is slower, which means there are more silences and sounds for Ian to fill in.
But suddenly a topic arises among his group that piques his interest, and he becomes silent. Score update from the Genesis Scottish Open, which takes place down in North Berwick, at the Renaissance Club. In a country of just 5.5 million, Ian is one of about 5.4 million people invested in this weekend's development at the Renaissance, where Robert MacIntyre, golf's homegrown kid, takes a shot at what could be one of the stories of the year. in professional golf.
“What's Bobby's score now?” Ian asked, hearing MacIntyre's name mentioned among the golfers.
“Thirteen less than a turn,” answered one of them. “Two after the lead.”
Ian's face breaks into a toothy smile. He is on the turn, standing at one of the farthest points on the Old Course, miles from the town of St. Andrews and television are close to something he cares about the most.
Finally, you'll see the highlights of Saturday's charge at MacIntyre's home open, a third-round 63 to move up the leaderboard for sole second and the final pairing on Sunday for the second year in a row. However, for now all he can do is wait. In some ways, it's even better this way.
“That's good,” he said. “That's really good.”
It CAN be difficult to analyze the meaning from week to week in pro golf.
There are big – big – obviously, those go without saying. Then there are the invitations, where the money is good and the fame big. And then the Signature Events, those mean a lot too – if only because of the $20 million purses and limited arenas. But things get murkier outside of those twelve or so weeks a year.
What's the big deal? What is compatible? What is important? What is missing? It all depends. New things start to matter. Things like course strength and calendar status and sponsor releases and ticket sales and golf course properties and, of course, hometown favorites.
This week, the world's best players have flocked to North Berwick because the Scottish Open is held in the Goldilocks of professional golf: close to a major tournament, in a desirable place to visit, for decent pay and in front of a angry the crowd. This is golf at its best: it's interesting enough to be interesting. And when the world pays attention, the best stories often find their way into the spotlight.
Like, for example, young Bobby MacIntyre, the pride of Oban, Scotland – population 8,500. As a champion on the DP World Tour, MacIntyre has been the heart and soul of his golf-loving country for years now, wearing a thick brogue and his heart on his sleeve. In almost every way, he is the epitome of Scottish golf: he plays a down-to-earth, subtle and weather-resistant style; sporting a pale skin tone usually with sun spots; and entertaining his audience with jokes rather than the afternoon air in the highlands.
Last summer, MacIntyre came within a hair's breadth of winning his Open, beating everyone and everything but Rory McIlroy's 2-iron in a five-club windfall that the four-time champion would later call one of his career bests. He lost to McIlroy on the 18th green by one and went home dejected.
Playing in Scotland will help MacIntyre break into new golf territory, securing a spot on the Ryder Cup team and full-time PGA Tour membership in 2024. He moved to Orlando at the beginning of the year full of dreams, but that promise quickly vanished; his condition declined, and he gave press conferences at several tournaments discussing his struggles with loneliness on the road in America.
MacIntyre continued his sabbatical back in Scotland for a while, then brought some of the Scots with him to the US, taking his father with him in the bag in early spring. An emotional win at the Canadian Open followed, a career highlight for MacIntyre, but even then his heart was elsewhere.
“Everyone knows this is the one I want to win,” MacIntyre said in a pre-tournament statement in Scotland on Tuesday. “If it's not the big tournaments, it's the Scottish Open.”
MacIntyre has tried to avoid allowing himself to dream too much about the opportunities ahead of him at the Scottish Open. He's spoken in an unusually guarded, measured way with the media all week — using a strategy not unlike that used by Xander Schauffele at the PGA Championship in May.
“Tomorrow is another round of golf,” said Saturday. “I have to control myself and if I do that well, then I will have a chance.”
On Saturday night, at least, you will go to bed with that dream still very much possible. MacIntyre will play in Sunday's final tournament alongside tournament leader Ludwig Aberg, who has been beaten twice before and looks every bit the rival McIlroy has been formidable for the past year.
“I say it from the beginning, I want to get a chance to enter on Sunday and give myself that chance,” he said. “At home in Scotland, it's something I want, but I can manage and control myself very well so far.”
The home kid who wins his homecoming event in the world's most golf-crazy country? That's the kind of moment that doesn't come around often in pro golf, even here.
It's the kind of victory that would send a buzz through all the Scots in North Berwick on Sunday, silence across the country roads.
Even on the Old Course.
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