Scottish golfer Robert MacIntyre has promised to pay off his parents’ mortgage after winning the Canadian Open with his dad Dougie as caddie.
The 27-year-old Ryder Cup star notched his first win on the PGA Tour on Sunday with a final round of 68 that took him to 16 under par, one clear of American Ben Griffin.
MacIntyre banked £1.33m for a victory aided by father, head greenkeeper at their local club in Oban who he roped in as caddie at short notice.
“He’ll do nicely out of it. He deserves it,” MacIntyre said. “My mum and dad will be mortgage-free now, and life’s looking a little bit better on that side of things. But he just wants me to do well because I’m his son, there’s no angles to it.
“I wasn’t given everything as a kid. I was given a great opportunity. My dad was a really good sportsman – football, golf, shinty – [but] didn’t have the finances to really chase it, and I think it was something that my mum and dad always wanted to do.
“I’ve got two older sisters who are right into their horses, horse riding and stuff, but they even sacrificed quite a lot of that just to give me a chance. I couldn’t play in golf tournaments as a junior because we couldn’t afford it.
“I think that makes me fight and never give up. They gave me quite a bit, they gave me the opportunity, but never was I spoon fed, I was always fighting for every bit of it.”
MacIntyre’s breakthrough win on the other side of the Atlantic comes just two weeks before the third men’s major of the year, the US Open at Pinehurst.
Frenchman Victor Perez was third on 14 under, one ahead of Rory McIlroy and Tom Kim after all three shot closing 64s in a bid to chase down the leader.
MacIntyre had called on his dad to carry his bag just days before the Canadian Open after splitting from regular caddie Mike Burrow and occasional stand-in Scott Carmichael.
“It’s unbelievable. I’m a grasscutter not a caddie,” said Dougie MacIntyre. “Last Saturday night, I’m sitting on the couch at home and I’m [thinking], can I leave my job here? I’m busy at work. Eight o’clock the next morning, I’m on a flight out here and wow.”