With his father serving as his caddie, Robert MacIntyre sits atop the leaderboard halfway through the 2024 RBC Canadian Open. Carding back-to-back bogey-free rounds of 64 and 66, the Scotsman stands alongside Ryan Fox at 10 under and two clear of Joel Dahmen.
"I think I'm playing nicely," MacIntyre said. "When I'm in position off the tee ... approach play has been pretty good. I've been giving myself a lot of chances. When I missed the green I've had a good short game. To be honest, I think I've missed it in the right spots. I miss it far side of the green, not short-sided and we can kind of run it. If not, we fly it over it. But, no, I think overall it's been a good two days."
MacIntyre's ball-striking numbers don't jump off the page -- he ranks outside the top 70 on approach -- but as he said, he has missed in the correct spots, which is more than half the battle at a difficult Hamilton Golf & Country Club. Playing over par for the second consecutive day, the par 70 sent quality players like Sahith Theegala, Alex Noren, Cameron Young and defending champion Nick Taylor home early on Friday.
The leader has been able to climb to the top spot thanks to the occasional strong iron shot, but most of the damage has been courtesy of the putter. Gaining more than six strokes on the greens through 36 holes and another three around them, MacIntyre has leaned on his short game and a renewed attitude.
With his father by his side, MacIntyre's good attitude should persist into the weekend and even more so if his good play does as well. He will need both if he is to capture his first victory on the PGA Tour, as he will contend with a quality chasing pack, a penalizing golf course and the nerves of trying to become a winner on the PGA Tour.
"To be honest, it's just spending 36 holes with my dad," MacIntyre said. "First time on the bag on a proper tournament. We're just kind of learning on the run -- well, he is, he's learning on the run and I'm kind of trying to stay as calm as I can. When I do miss a shot, I'm not trying to get too annoyed. Yeah, we're just trying to have as much fun as we can."
With his dad on the bag, solo leader @Robert1Lefty is cherishing every moment @RBCCanadianOpen ❤️ pic.twitter.com/ZHx1PGPQ1B
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 31, 2024
The leaders
T1. Robert MacIntyre, Ryan Fox (-10)
Although he has been on the professional stage for a while, MacIntyre is still just a rookie on the PGA Tour. There have been clear growing pains in his transition from the DP World Tour to the PGA Tour, but the 27-year-old has seemingly figured them out. After beginning his rookie season missing five of his first 10 cuts, MacIntyre has found his groove with three top 15s in his last three starts, one of which came in the form of a contention run at the PGA Championship.
"I've got the golf game to compete anywhere in the world, and I knew that, from playing, obviously, Open Championships and the Masters my first time," MacIntyre said. "There was something stopping me. There was something stopping me from competing. I felt like I had a terrible start to the year. Something was stopping me. We kind of ... we dug in deeper into stats and whatnot and we're like, everything's all right here, what is it? And then you got to look at yourself. You got to look yourself in the mirror and go, 'You might be the problem.' We sat down, we spoke about it, and I think my attitude was a problem. Just now I'm working hard on that, trying to just stay as even keeled and just deal with whatever comes."
Other contenders
3. Joel Dahmen (-8)
T4. Mackenzie Hughes, Andrew Novak, David Skinns (-7)
T7. Trace Crowe, Sean O'Hair, Sam Burns (-6)
T10. Nick Hardy, Zac Blair, Ben Griffin (-5)
The round of the day came from one of Canada's own. Hughes was shot out a cannon Friday with an early hole-out for eagle on his third hole, the par-4 12th, and tacked on three more birdies before making the turn. The thought of a potential sub-60 round crept into the mind when he carded his second eagle of the day on the par-5 4th to reach 8 under with five holes to play. Instead of continuing in this direction, the Canadian backtracked over his last few holes with a couple of bogeys but remains within reach of the lead. Not only does this week represent a return to Canada for Hughes, but a return to a golf course where he estimates he's played about 50 rounds in his life.
"It feels very nice," Hughes said. "I've had a few minutes to process the round and kind of the whole day, and while the finish was disappointing, I look at the whole body of work. Starting today ... if you told me I was going to shoot 64, I would have taken it. So it gets me into contention for the weekend, and that's all I can ask for."
The eagle has landed!@MacHughesGolf is 3-under in his first 3 holes @RBCCanadianOpen. pic.twitter.com/bFg1RA4car
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 31, 2024
Another milestone for Rory
After opening with a bogey-free 66 on Thursday, McIlroy didn't have his A-game on Friday and settled for a 2-over 72. While he is still in this tournament at 2 under, McIlroy may reflect a little this evening on accomplishing another feat. Teeing it up this week on the PGA Tour for the 250th time in his career, the 35-year-old made his 220th cut — good for a whopping 88% success rate. Here are a couple of other numbers to contextualize McIlroy's career and the underrated longevity of it all.
- 250 starts
- 220 made cuts (88.0%)
- 121 top-10 finishes (48.4%)
- 26 wins (10.4%)
2024 RBC Canadian Open updated odds and picks
- Robert MacIntyre: 3-1
- Ryan Fox: 7/2
- Mackenzie Hughes: 8-1
- Sam Burns: 11-1
- Joel Dahmen: 14-1
- Andrew Novak: 16-1
- Rory McIlroy: 20-1
The top of this leaderboard is pretty soft, meaning it may be wise to throw a few darts and hope they make the most of their Moving Days. Skinns at 28-1 seems a hair long as he tends to stick around once he gets into contention. A little further down the odds board, Zac Blair is only five back at 125-1 and Tom Kim has the statistical profile ripe for a breakout performance. At 2 under, he is also listed at 125-1.
