Robert MacIntyre is getting set to defend his RBC Canadian Open title and for the Scot, who landed his home open crown a couple of weeks after his maiden PGA Tour win at Hamilton Golf Club, there is something extra special about landing a national open.
The venue may have changed this year, but the importance remains the same.
“I spoke of this before. I think it’s massive,” he said. “National Opens are huge. Being from Europe, we’ve got a lot of National Opens — Scottish Open, French Open, Spanish Open, one event in Belgium, last week in Austria. I just think it brings out more if there’s one event in a specific area, like here this week.
“There’s a lot of Canadian players here this week obviously wanting to win the Canadian Open. Everyone’s wanting to win this week, but it just adds an extra incentive for the Canadian guys because it’s the Canadian Open, and I think the crowd also builds on that. They try to get some more kind of praise and applauds for good golf to the Canadians, which is — I mean, I get that in Scotland and elsewhere, wherever, like a Frenchman in France, it’s the exact same stuff.
“National Opens are a massive part of the game. I just wish that we’d done more to promote a lot more National Opens.”
MacIntyre’s preparation for his title defense included a trip back to Hamilton Golf Club where he was assisted by his father Dougie, a greenkeeper back in their native Oban, who made a last-minute move onto MacIntyre’s bag for the week in Canada and helped propel him to an emotional victory.
Naturally, there are plenty of good memories, not least of which were the late night celebrations with club members and his dad.
His father won’t be on the bag this week, but he has once again made the trip to Canada to lend his support.
“The guys were absolutely brilliant,” he recalled. “I’ve kept in touch with quite a few of them.
“When we won, we sat in the clubhouse until about 11:30 just drinking beers and just having a good time. Nothing wild, just — so I’ve always kept in touch with them guys that we spent time with.
“I said, if I can, I’d love to play Hamilton on the Monday. They were like, yeah, yeah, just keep in touch. Let us know what’s happening. Told my dad last week, look, do you want to come to Canada again? You’re not caddying, but you can come and have a holiday again. Again, he’s hemming and hawing about leaving his work, and my mom ended up saying, look, you’re 60 now. Get to Canada.
“He came, and we went there yesterday, and they actually put the pin positions out for the Sunday of the Canadian Open. So we were kind of reminiscing of certain shots, certain putts.
“Look, it’s just special for me and my dad to go back there and just enjoy a round of golf without the media, without the crowds, without any hassle. Just reliving a moment that — I mean, I don’t know if it will be done again on the PGA TOUR, to be honest with you, winning with your dad on the bag. I know it happens lower down on the tours, Challenge Tour, EuroPro, potentially Korn Ferry, but on the PGA TOUR, it was something special. Yesterday was great fun.”
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