Bob MacIntyre reveals Dad's pep talk sparked surge to PGA Tour lead
"He was having a wee go at me" Scotland's Bob MacIntyre reveals how his father and stand-in caddie Dougie helped him refocus and vault into a four-shot lead at the RBC Canadian Open.
Scotland's Bob MacIntyre has credited his father's pep talk at the turn as being the inspiration behind his incredible back-nine surge on day three of the RBC Canadian Open on the PGA Tour.
MacIntyre, 27, overcame a front-nine wobble after going out in a 1-over 36 to surge home in 30 shots highlighted by playing holes 14 to 17 in 5-under par.
After a chip-in birdie on 7 followed by back-to-back bogeys on 8 and 9, MacIntyre admitted his father Dougie, who is acting his stand-in caddie this week, 'had a wee go' at him as he trudged over to the 10th tee.
The pep talk seemingly had immediate effect as MacIntyre went on to birdie the 10th.
Despite a bogey on the 13th, the Scot then drained three straight birdies from the 14th before burying a 30-footer for eagle on the par-5 17th to vault into a commanding four-shot lead with 18 holes to play at Hamilton Golf & Country Club.
MacIntyre carded a second consecutive round of 66 to move to 14-under par and four shots clear of Ben Griffin, Ryan Fox and home-favourite Mackenzie Hughes.
England's Tommy Fleetwood, who lost out in a playoff to Nick Taylor in this event last season, is in contention for his first PGA Tour title at five shots behind alongside multiple PGA Tour winner Sam Burns.
Rory McIlroy will start the final round seven shots off the pace on 7-under par.
PGA Tour rookie MacIntyre, who has won twice on the DP World Tour, is now going in search of his maiden title on the North American circuit.
MacIntyre is going through a transition period at the moment and is yet to find a full-time caddie.
After an emergency phone call last weekend, his father Dougie stepped up to the plate, despite claiming he was 'a bit out of his depth'.
MacIntyre told reporters it was the first time his father had been on his bag since he went to Tour School in 2018.
Of his interaction with his father heading into the back nine, MacIntyre said:
"Yeah, he was having a wee go at me when I was walking from the 10th tee down to the fairway. Look, he was a sporting guy, he knows how to win, knows how to lose, he's been through it all. He could see my head going a little bit and he's like, what have you been working on for the last eight weeks, 10 weeks, whatever I've been doing, when I realized what was the problem. I kind of flipped into that mode and tried to find the positive in everything."
MacIntyre added:
"I think 11 was a big turning point, where I hit a nice drive, ball's in a seeded divot on the fairway, but instead of moaning and mumping and moaning about it, I was like, you know what, this seeded divot allowed me to hit a 6-iron, a cutty 6, and I'm going, if that wasn't in an a seeded divot I wasn't going to hit that shot. So I tried to flip the negatives into positives. Yeah, just started to find momentum. I holed a putt, holed a long putt, and then it just, when it gets rolling it's nice."
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