HAMILTON, Ontario – After falling four shots back early in the third round, Robert MacIntyre rallied with three birdies and an eagle in a row to catapult into the lead and take a four-stroke lead heading into the final round of the RBC Canadian Open.
The Scotsman shot a 4-under 66 at Hamilton Golf & Country Club to improve to 14-under 196 and four ahead of Ryan Fox, Ben Griffin and Mackenzie Hughes. MacIntyre struggled off the tee and dropped down to 9 under after back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 8 and 9. How did he flip the script?
“I think it’s my attitude now. I’ve spoken about it all week. I’ve been in a good mindset from the get-go and had zero expectation at the start of the week,” he said. “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.”
Did he ever. Beginning at 14, he caught fire and holed 133 feet of putts on the back nine. MacIntyre, who has won twice on the DP World Tour and is a rookie this season on the PGA Tour is attempting to become the fifth Scottish winner on the PGA Tour since 1940. He would join Sandy Lyle, Paul Lawrie, Martin Laird and Russell Knox.
Here are five more things to know from the third round of the RBC Canadian Open.