Scottish Open final leaderboard
-18 R MacIntyre (Sco); -17 A Scott (Aus); -15 R Langasque (Fra); -14 L Aberg (Swe); R McIlroy (NI), C Morikawa (US), A Rai (Eng), S Im (Kor), S Theegala (US); -13 C Conners (Can), V Perez (Fra), A Noren (Swe), W Clark (US), R Mansell (Eng)
Emotional Robert MacIntyre vowed to “celebrate hard” after winning the “one I wanted” with a stunning Scottish Open triumph on home soil amid rapturous scenes.
The Scot, pipped to the title by Rory McIlroy’s brilliant birdie-birdie finish a year ago, was not to be denied this time as he staged a late surge to glory at the Renaissance Club.
MacIntyre – helped by a huge slice of luck on the 16th – gained four strokes in his closing five holes to post a three-under 67 that was capped by a title-winning birdie putt from 22 feet on the last.
That lifted the left-hander to 18 under, edging out Adam Scott by a shot after the Australian had set the target with a 67.
Frenchman Romain Langasque finished third on 15 under, with McIlroy and Ludvig Aberg a further shot back. Swede Aberg, who had led from the halfway stage, struggled to a closing three-over 73.
MacIntyre is now a two-time PGA Tour winner in the space of six weeks, having triumphed at the Canadian Open with dad Dougie on the bag.
That landmark win was special for the 27-year-old but it paled in comparison to the elation of victory in front of a large and passionate home crowd, who belted out ‘Flower of Scotland’ after the winning putt dropped as MacIntyre let out a victory roar and revelled in the celebrations.
“I had a tear in my eye before I hit the putt,” he said. “I was getting emotional before I read the putt. I still I had a job to do.
“This was the one I wanted, and it was the one I got. I can’t believe it’s happened.”
He has another huge home engagement next – The Open at Royal Troon starting on Thursday – but MacIntyre was in no mood to temper the celebrations.
“How do I come down from this? I don’t think I will,” he added. “I think I’m just going to try to ride the wave.
“The Open means a lot to me but you’ve got to celebrate the good times because it doesn’t happen a lot.”