Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre pledged that his parents will be “mortgage free” after his father Dougie helped him win his first PGA Tour title in the RBC Canadian Open.
MacIntyre carded a final round of 68 at Hamilton Golf and Country Club to finish 16 under par, a shot ahead of home favourite Ben Griffin.
Griffin had piled on the pressure with birdies on the 15th, 16th and 17th to close within one of his playing partner, but could not find a fourth in a row on the last to potentially force a play-off.
That meant MacIntyre had the luxury of two-putting from 10 feet for the win before embracing his father, the head greenkeeper at their local Glencruitten Golf Club who had been called on to caddie at short notice.
Big Shot Bob breaking down with his dad after winning the Canadian Open. That'll hit ya in the best way. pic.twitter.com/XYLgz8lIlU
— Ryan Ballengee (@RyanBallengee) June 3, 2024
Asked if his dad would receive the standard 10 per cent of his winner’s cheque of £1.3million, MacIntyre joked: “Yeah, he’s going to get a nice paycheck 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. And my mum and dad will be mortgage-free now, and life’s looking a little bit better on that side of things, but he just wants me to do well because I’m his son, and there’s no angles to it, there’s nothing.”
MacIntyre’s parents have fostered children for a number of years and the 27-year-old was asked how that had influenced his approach to life.
“I think it makes you realise that hitting a white ball around a golf course isn’t the most important thing,” the Ryder Cup winner said.
“I mean, I’ve been in tears over it, kids going away from you. They become family. They have been in a tough spot.
Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre, right, and an RCMP officer pose for photos with the championship trophy after MacIntyre won the Canadian Open golf tournament in Hamilton, Ontario, (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
“I wasn’t given everything as a kid. I was given a great opportunity. My dad was obviously a really good sportsman, football, golf, shinty, (but) didn’t have the finances to really chase it, and I think it was something that my mum and dad always wanted to do.
“I’ve got two older sisters who are right into their horses, horse riding and stuff, but they even sacrificed quite a lot of that just to give me a chance.
“I mean, I couldn’t play in golf tournaments as a junior because we couldn’t afford it.
“I think that makes me fight and never give up, I think not being given anything. I mean, they gave me quite a bit. They gave me the opportunity, but never was I spoon fed, I was always fighting for every bit of it.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here