Robert MacIntyre closed with a 66 thanks three consecutive birdies from the 14th and a 30-foot eagle putt on the par-5 17th to take a four-stroke lead at 14-under into the final round of the RBC Canadian Open.
“I’ve been in a good mindset from the get-go and had zero expectation at the start of the week. Obviously, the prep wasn’t good and having to get a visa and whatnot, it was just, it wasn’t working out well. But that is kind of something that’s helped my attitude. I’ve had less expectation, more just, let’s see how it goes. Just today I just stuck in there. I didn’t have it great at the start, but I feel like whenever I dropped a shot I bounced back with maybe two good shots into the green, and I would pick up a shot back. I just, it never got away from me. A bit of luck, a bit of myself being staying in the moment, staying calm. I got my reward with the putter in the end.
“That’s a tough tee shot,” he said of his eagle at the 17th. “The bunkers, I’m not a short hitter, but I’m not the longest, so that right bunker is quite sneaky. When Joel [Dahmen] was hitting his third shot in, I seen a guy in green, and my dad asked me, where are you hitting this? And I said, I’m trying to land it on that guy in the green — I was never reaching him and then he moved on anyway, but it gave me a focused target down the left-hand side, because I knew if I hit it solid I’m covering the left bunker. Just hit it as hard as I could and it came off perfect.”
The Scot is a two-time winner on the DP World Tour but his best result on the PGA Tour so far was second place at the 2023 Genesis Scottish Open.
Ben Griffin of the United States closed with a 65 for a share of second place at 10-under alongside Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes who shot a 67 and New Zealand’s Ryan Fox who eagled the par-5 4th but also made four bogeys.
England’s Tommy Fleetwood shot a bogey-free 64 to move into a four-way share for fifth place at 9-under.
“Definitely I would have taken it before we started off,” said Fleetwood. “I think it was, you know, I got off to a great start, and the last three days I actually played the front nine really, really well, it was just the back nine I hadn’t capitalized on, and it hadn’t been great to me. But, yeah, played really nicely on that back nine and kept the good start going, and it all ended up in a good round. Yeah, definitely a very good start to the day.”
Related: Guido Migliozzi joins Laurie Canter in the lead
