Scotland’s own Robert MacIntyre trickled in a 22-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole at The Renaissance Club to win by one shot over Adam Scott in the 2024 Genesis Scottish Open. MacIntyre became the first Scot to win the Scottish Open since Colin Montgomerie in 1999.
The putt heard across Scotland 🗣️🗣️🗣️ pic.twitter.com/jgnNcaHsiH
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 14, 2024
Last year, MacIntyre shot a final-round 64 at the Scottish Open, the lowest round of the day by two shots on Sunday. However, Rory McIlroy birdied each of the final two holes to beat the Scot by a single shot at The Renaissance Club.
MacIntyre had noted how he wants to win his national open more than any other tournament, and he was overcome with emotion upon holing his birdie putt to win on 18 today.
After winning for the first time on the PGA Tour with his father, Dougie MacIntyre, on the bag early last month at the RBC Canadian Open, Robert MacIntyre has now won two of his last five starts on the PGA Tour and is the only golfer aside from Scottie Scheffler (six wins) with multiple individual titles on Tour this season. MacIntyre's usual caddie, Machael Burrow, was on the bag with him today in North Berwick, Scotland.
MacIntyre’s round got off to a slow start, seeing as he made bogey on the second hole and played the first two par-5s, the third and 10th holes, in one-over par. He stepped onto the 154-yard par-3 14th hole at one-over par for the day and 14-under par for the tournament, three shots behind the leader, Adam Scott. The 43-year-old Australian was looking for his first win since the 2020 Genesis Invitational at Riviera.
The 27-year-old from Oban, Scotland left himself 41 feet for birdie on the par-3 then beautifully drained the putt to move to two behind Scott and into a tie for second place with Ludvig Åberg (playing in the final group with MacIntyre) and Romain Langasque (finished his final round) at 15-under. Åberg held the 54-hole lead by two shots over MacIntyre as the Swede entered the final round at 17-under par.
MacIntyre and Åberg both made par on the 15th hole before playing the final par-5 on the course, the 568-yard 16th hole. MacIntyre missed the fairway right and drew a terrible lie in the thick fescue rough, but because he realized he was standing on a sprinkler head with his cleats, he was given a free drop.
This favorable break resulted in MacIntyre going from having to chop the ball out into the fairway and being able to advance it "maybe a hundred yards," as he noted in his post-round press conference, to having a seven-iron into the green on his second shot from a playable lie in the rough. He proceeded to knock his second shot to just outside of six feet for eagle before holing the putt to move into a tie for the lead with Scott at 17-under par.
Dottie Pepper, who was walking with the final group on the CBS broadcast, noted that Åberg was frustrated with the pace of play while waiting for MacIntyre’s second shot while he himself was hitting his second shot from the fairway.
After the wait, Åberg left himself just short of the green on his second shot then chunked his pitch shot, which rolled back down a hill near his original pitch. He failed to get that up and down and made bogey as he eliminated himself from contention.
Scott had one to play while MacIntyre had two opportunities to break the tie at 17-under par. Scott bombed his tee shot on 18 into the right first cut 346 yards off the tee, leaving 144 yards on his approach. He would hit a quality wedge to just inside 15 feet but left the birdie putt low the entire way and tapped in for par.
MacIntyre two-putted for par from 34 feet on the 17th hole then hit his tee shot on 18 into the right first cut, leaving 168 yards into the hole. He then striped a short iron to about pin high and 22 feet left of the right flag, leaving himself a putt to win the tournament in front of the eager Scottish fans rooting him on.
The lefty rolled the right-to-left putt with just enough pace to fall softly over the front edge and win by one as he and the Scottish crowd erupted in a victorious frenzy.
After experiencing heartbreak at his national open last year when McIlroy seized the Scottish Open over the last few holes, MacIntyre played the last five holes at four-under par to win by a shot in walk-off fashion over Scott.
Aaron Rai (T4), Alex Noren (T10) and Richard Mansell (T10) also notably qualified for The Open Championship as they were the three top golfers in this week's Scottish Open who had yet to qualify into the final major championship of the year.
2024 Scottish Open Leaderboard & Odds
Odds via bet365
Golfer | Score | Pretournament Odds |
---|---|---|
Robert MacIntyre | -18 | +4500 |
Adam Scott | -17 | +10000 |
Romain Langasque | -15 | +25000 |
Aaron Rai | -14 | +5000 |
Rory McIlroy | -14 | +950 |
Sungjae Im | -14 | +5000 |
Collin Morikawa | -14 | +1700 |
Ludvig Åberg | -14 | +1700 |