Robert MacIntyre holds off field with help from his dad to win Canadian Open

The final round at the RBC Canadian Open had everything – Canadian challengers, moody weather, and several golfers in the hunt, before Robert MacIntyre of Scotland earned his maiden title, with his dad as emergency caddy.

On a wet, grey day at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club on Sunday, the 27-year-old Scottish lefty finished with a two-under 68, 16-under overall, for his first PGA Tour win.

MacIntyre led by as many as four strokes at one point Sunday, but had to withstand multiple challengers threatening for the trophy. Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes briefly shared the lead with the Scot early in the round. Then Victor Perez of France and Ben Griffin of the U.S. each pulled within a shot of MacIntyre on their final holes, leaving the Scot little room for error down the stretch.

MacIntyre had his father Dougie along as caddy, a greenkeeper at a golf course back home in Oban, Scotland. When the golfer drained the winning putt before a big crowd on 18, father and son wrapped up in an emotional bear hug. MacIntyre said he had no expectations for this tournament. His father was a last-minute call to be on the bag after he parted ways with another caddy and got turned down by others who weren’t interested in a one-week gig.

MacIntyre earned the winner’s US$1.692-million prize.

It was special to do it alongside his father, after they had lived close to the golf course growing up and played together nightly.

“My parents will be mortgage free now,” MacIntyre said. “He’ll do well out of it.”

There had been pressure atop the board. Griffin shot a five-under 65 to finish second at 15-under, while Perez shot a 64 Sunday to close at 14-under.

MacIntyre held a four-shot lead coming into Sunday’s final round thanks to a monster vault up the leaderboard on Saturday when he fired a round of 66 to sit at 14-under. A trio of golfers sat tied for second coming into Sunday – Griffin, Ryan Fox of New Zealand, and Hughes.

For much of the afternoon, the Canadian audience was fixed on Hughes, who grew up in Dundas, Ont., some eight kilometres from Hamilton Golf & Country Club. The 33-year-old was Sunday’s early fan favourite. Fans hoped there could be back-to-back Canadian winners at the men’s national open for the first time in 110 years, following up Nick Taylor’s thrilling win in 2023, which had ended a 69-year stretch without a Canadian champ.

Despite grey skies, drizzling rain and wet grass, galleries of fans still packed in tight this Sunday, many under umbrellas. The three second-place golfers wasted little time gaining on MacIntyre. The Scot needed five strokes on the par-four opening hole, while Griffin, Fox and Hughes all birdied on the first two holes, quickly chopping MacIntyre’s lead to two.

They weren’t the only ones congesting the top of the leaderboard. The pack included McIlroy, a two-time winner at this tournament, including the last time it was contested in Hamilton in 2019. The star from Northern Ireland, treated to cheers all week like an honorary Canadian, notched four birdies on his first six holes to make it a four-way tie for second. His playing partner, Tom Kim of Korea, was also pushing into that pack of leaders.

Hughes was enjoying the rare sort of applause a little-known golfer only gets close to home when he’s got a shot to win his national open. Fans were hoisting beers in his name, hollering out for ‘Mac,’ whooping and singing for him. He got on a roll and birdied two more holes – for three in a row – and seized a share of the lead. With each birdie, the applause boomed across the golf course.

This was Hughes’s first time in eight appearances at his national open that he was in contention on the last day. His previous best finish had been a tie for eighth in 2018.

His co-share of the lead was short lived. MacIntyre stole back his solo hold with his first birdie of the day on four. Hughes came down from his high of the past three holes with a bogey on five.

The Canadian roared right back though, with a bounce-back hole. The graduate of Kent State University ripped a picture-perfect tee shot on the par-three six, placing it just nine feet from the hole to set up a breezy birdie putt.

But it wasn’t Hughes’s day. He had costly bogeys on nine, 13 and 14, that shifted him out of contention, as the logjam jockeying in second and third place got increasingly crowded. He finished seventh with a 70 on Sunday, at 10-under.

“I wanted this one pretty badly,” Hughes said. “This one will sting for a while.”

Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., thrust himself into that mix with four straight birdies on the back nine, including a thriller on The Rink 13th hole – a signature at the Canadian Open – the tee box of No. 13 wrapped by hockey boards with fans banging on them rowdily, flanked by officials wearing referee stripes. Fans on the hole sang the national anthem to all eight Canadians who played into the weekend. Conners was the low Canadian, finishing sixth at 12-under, with his best round on Sunday, a 65.

“I feel like there’s always somebody who is right there with an outside chance or a good chance. It just goes to show how strong Canadian golf is,” Conners said.

As those little exciting quick bursts of excitement happened all over the historic Southern Ontario course, the Scottish leader, MacIntyre, built himself a four-shot lead by the 11th hole. Several golfers kept surging. He remained focused this weekend when challenges got in his way, like when a drone filming the tournament got too close and annoyed him while he was playing – MacIntyre complained and had it removed.

“I had a job to do and it was getting in my way,” MacIntyre said.

McIlroy and Kim closed strong with 64s on Sunday and finished tied for fourth, both at 13-under.

“My goal was to at least make Bob shoot under par,” McIlroy said. “I thought if I could get to 14 he would have to go out and shoot something in the 60s to win, so that was the goal. I came up one short of that.”

Perez and Griffin both applied heaps of pressure late as MacIntyre put a few shots off course in the final holes before steering back on track for the win.

The crowd was spotted with a smattering of Scottish flags.

“I never knew how many Scots were in Canada,” MacIntyre said.