Robert MacIntyre uses blistering 3rd-round finish to pull away at golf’s Canadian Open

HAMILTON – Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre has a chance to give his dad quite the early Father’s Day gift.

With his father, Dougie, filling in as his caddie for the Canadian Open, MacIntyre is 18 holes away from securing his first victory on the PGA Tour after firing a four-under 66 in the third round on June 1 in Hamilton, Ontario.

MacIntyre now sits at 14-under 196 for the tournament, four shots ahead of American Ben Griffin (65), Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes (67) and Ryan Fox of New Zealand (70) at Hamilton Golf and Country Club.

“Caddies are so valuable out here, especially on a golf course like this where it’s a lot of slopes. But when you’re playing decent, I feel like today especially, like whoever was caddying for me, I’ve got that most respect for them, whoever it is,” the 27-year-old MacIntyre said.

“But my dad wants me to do well because we’re blood, you know what I mean, and there’s no other, there’s nothing other than pride and guts and what we’re trying to do.

“I mean, he’s been through thick and thin with me. He taught me how to play the game of golf until really I started working with a coach, probably at about 14, 15.”

After playing bogey-free golf through his first two rounds, MacIntyre struggled on the front nine on June 1, opening with a bogey at the par-four first before picking up two more at Nos. 8 and 9.

But following yet another bogey at No. 13, he caught fire, going birdie-birdie-birdie before sinking a 31-foot putt for eagle at the par-five 17th.

Like MacIntyre, Griffin and Fox have never won on the PGA Tour, while Hughes is a two-time winner.

Griffin gave himself a chance to capture his first title by collecting seven birdies against two bogeys on June 1.

“All I can do is just try to make birdies and focus on myself,” the American said. “I missed a short eagle putt on 17, but it’s all good, I’ll have plenty of chances (on June 2) to make up for some of those missed shots.”

Fox was at four under for the day after an eagle at the par-five fourth and a birdie at the par-four fifth, but he settled for four bogeys the rest of the way.

Meanwhile, Hughes, a fan favourite who has been adored by spectators throughout, sank an 87-foot birdie putt at No. 4 despite missing the fairway on his tee shot.

“I saw a lot of familiar faces out there, a lot of ‘Go Mac,’ ‘Go Mac go’ or, ‘Mac, you’re the man’ or anything like that. I heard a lot of those, which is really cool,” Hughes said. “Anywhere else I’m not getting that and here I do, so it’s pretty neat.”

Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, whose bogey-free six-under 64 matched the best score of the day, moved up to fifth place at nine-under 201. He is tied with Americans Sam Burns (67), Trace Crowe (67) and Joel Dahmen (69).

“I got off to a great start,” Fleetwood said. “The last three days I actually played the front nine really, really well, it was just the back nine I hadn’t capitalised on, and it hadn’t been great to me. But, yeah, played really nicely on that back nine and kept the good start going.”

Fleetwood was the runner-up at the 2023 edition, losing to Canada’s Nick Taylor in a play-off. The title holder missed the cut this time around.

Victor Perez of France also posted a 64 to share low-round honours with Fleetwood. Perez is tied-ninth with Englishman Aaron Rai, who notched a 65. The duo are six shots off the lead.

World No. 3 Rory McIlroy rebounded with a 65 to be joint 11th, a further stroke back. REUTERS