MacIntyre's 'dream' success in Canada latest highlight from DP World Tour members on PGA TOUR

By Mathieu Wood

As Robert MacIntyre tapped in a par putt on the 18th green for a momentous maiden PGA TOUR title at the RBC Canadian Open, the Scotsman continued a strong season for players who earned dual membership status through the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai Rankings.

The Scotsman is one of ten players who benefited from a formalised pathway onto the PGA TOUR via their performances on the DP World Tour's season-long Race to Dubai last year.

MacIntyre finished seventh of the top ten players who were not already exempt on the PGA TOUR to earn his card and now, at the age of 27 years, 9 months, 30 days, can call himself a winner on both of golf's biggest tours.

His success at Hamilton Golf and Country Club, one of Canada's leading courses, follows on from his debut appearance at the Ryder Cup last year in Italy and adds to his two triumphs on the DP World Tour.

The victory - achieved in his 45th start on the PGA TOUR - was made all the more special with his father, Dougie, on the bag after he accepted the call to put his role as greenkeeper at Glencruitten Golf Club to one side for the week.

In the immediate aftermath of his triumph, MacIntyre said: "Goosebumps. It's incredible. It's a dream of mine to play golf for a living. It was a dream of mine to win on the PGA TOUR, when I got my PGA TOUR card, and I just can't believe I've done it with my dad on the bag.

"This guy's taught me the way I play golf. I never make it easy, and he said that to me, when I was [on] 16 or 17.

"And that's the way I play golf, I play it with the heart on the sleeve, and we got a hell of a fight in the two of us and I just can't believe that I've won on the PGA TOUR, to be honest."

In his debut appearance at the RBC Canadian Open, Macintyre becomes the second player from the 2023 DP World Tour top ten to win on the PGA TOUR this season, following Matthieu Pavon's victory at the Farmers Insurance Open in January.

MacIntyre saw his four-shot overnight lead wiped out in the space of four holes after he bogeyed the first and home favourite Mackenzie Hughes made a hat-trick of early birdies.

But he responded superbly to birdie the fourth, seventh and eighth to regain control before another gain on the 11th moved him five shots clear.

An errant tee shot on the 12th into a water hazard led to a bogey before another on the 13th opened the door for the chasing pack, including fellow dual member Victor Perez and fast-finishing playing partner Ben Griffin, but MacIntyre crucially birdied the 15th and safely parred the last three holes.

MacIntyre is now eligible for the two remaining Signature Events this season (the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday and Travelers Championship). He has also secured his berth in the field for the U.S. Open later this month as well as climbing to a career-high 39th on the Official World Golf Ranking.

He now also sits 32nd on the FedExCup standings, with three-time DP World Tour winner Perez rising to 80th with his impressive runner-up finish.

Of the nine eligible players with dual member status, six (Pavon, MacIntyre, Perez, Sami Välimäki, Ryo Hisatsune, Ryan Fox) are in to the top 100.

As well as Perez, New Zealander Fox also registered his best result of the season with a tie for seventh in Canada.

Earlier this season, Välimäki credited the global nature of the DP World Tour in enabling players to develop a variety of skills to ease the transition to the PGA TOUR after a runner-up finish at the Mexico Open at Vidanta in February.

For MacIntyre, who graduated from the Challenge Tour in 2018, his victory underlined an upturn in form over recent recent weeks which coincided with a return back home to Scotland before finishing in a tie for 13th at the Myrtle Beach Classic and then in a share of eighth place at the US PGA Championship.

Celebrations are unlikely to be in short supply for one of European golf's most popular figures, but following his win in Canada attention on him heightens ahead of a big summer of golf on both sides of the Atlantic.

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