'Aye, I saw it!' - Bob MacIntyre opens up on Scottish Open 'lucky drop' sniping
Oban man ‘doesn’t care what anyone else says’ over his huge break on home soil
Bob MacIntyre has spoken for the first time about some social media sniping over the free drop that played a huge part in his fairytale Genesis Scottish Open victory earlier this year.
Bidding to go one better after being pipped by Rory McIlroy’s brilliant birdie-birdie finish 12 months earlier, it wasn’t looking good for the Oban man after seeing his drive at the par-5 16th at The Renaissance Club bury itself in thick rough.
Even getting it out on to the fairway would have been difficult as he battled it out with Australian Adam Scott over the closing stretch in the Rolex Series event, but, as he surveyed the scene, the left-hander discovered that the break of a lifetime had presented itself.
Only down to the fact he was wearing metal spikes, MacIntyre heard a “clunk” under his golf shoe and the sound was coming from a plastic sprinkler head, which led to him getting a drop.
Taking full advantage, he duly made an eagle before then holing a 20-foot birdie putt at the last to become the first home player since Colin Montgomerie in 1999 to land one of the most-coveted titles in the game.
“Aye, I saw it,” MacIntyre, speaking to Scotland on Sunday at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, said of some people seeming to question what had happened with his drop in the two or three days afterwards.
“But, you know what, I was open and honest to Mark LItton, the rules official. I was actually laughing as I was doing it because, if I had normal plastic spikes on that day, I would not have noticed that sprinkler was there. But I had metal spikes on and got lucky because I heard it.
“Yes, I was a bit embarrassed about the rule. But the only reason really that my ball was in thick rough was that there was a sprinkler there. I didn’t know it was there but, once I stepped back to take a practice swing to see how I could get out of there, I realised the sprinkler was under my foot. It was just pot luck.”
“I’ve got the replica trophy in a room at home and my name is always going to be etched on it. To be honest, I don’t care what anyone else says.”
Meanwhile, MacIntyre is heading into his final round of the year sitting inside the top ten in the Hero World Challenge after following opening efforts of 68-71 with a 68 in the third round.
On a day when world No 1 and defending champion Scottie Scheffler lost his halfway lead, MacIntyre signed for six birdies, including four in the five holes, and two bogeys to sit on nine under.
It’s been a praiseworthy effort so far from MacIntyre, who is the first Scot to tee up in the Tiger Woods-hosted event since 2016 and looks very much at home in the elite 20-man field.
Two-time PGA champion Justin Thomas posted a 66 to lead by one shot from Scheffler, who is bidding to land his eighth win in the calendar year, with Korean Tom Kim one further back after the Korean signed for a best-of-the-week 62.
In his first outing as a new dad, Thomas has set up a chance to end a drought stretching back to May 2022 and admitted: “Yeah, it would be great. I've been progressing nicely, working on all the right things and I've just got to keep playing as good as I possibly can and hope that it's enough.”
As for the possibility of being presented with a trophy by his close friend Woods, he added with a smile: “I've had a couple opportunities in the past and it's definitely something I'd love to check off my box in my career at some point.”
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