“I mean, Bob and I, we’re separated by a body of water in the Irish Sea, but we’re actually not that far away from each other where we grew up in Oban and Belfast,” McIlroy said of the challenges MacIntyre has faced adjusting to the PGA Tour.
“I can absolutely understand. It’s a big culture shock compared to the place where he grew up in Oban. You know, travelling around America, it’s a different world. Some people adapt a little quicker than others.
“Everyone has to try to find their right rhythm. It looks like Bob’s still figuring that out. It would be great to see him hang on and get that first PGA TOUR win.”
MacIntyre credited his father, Dougie for the role he played in his first PGA Tour win, revealing that his parents would now be mortgage-free as a result of his caddie’s share of the $1,692,000 winner’s cheque.
“He’s wanting me to do well just because I’m blood,” MacIntyre said. “He’s going to get a nice pay cheque out of it, and 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, and there’s no angles to it, there’s nothing. It’s just sheer fight for me. I mean, I fight for him as well.
“I just felt like the guy that’s properly taught me the game of golf I’m going to win a tournament with him on my bag, and it’s so special.”
As for the drones that bothered him during the round, MacIntyre admitted he called over the R&A rules official, Co Sligo’s Aine Binchy, to complain.
“If it didn’t go away, I was going to start throwing my clubs at it,” MacIntyre said. “That’s how annoyed I was getting.
“I was standing on the drivable par-four and when everyone’s silent, all you can hear is a — I mean, it’s a big wasp. I asked ’em to get rid of it. They did.
“Next hole, I’m in the bunker, and sure enough, everyone’s silent, and all I hear is this buzzing again. I look up and here it is. And, I don’t know, one of the guys must have been getting sick of me. I just kept turning to him because I knew he was the man to go to when that drone starts annoying me because yesterday on 18 it was the same guy. And he just radioed, Get that drone out of here.
“And then I stood on the ninth fairway, wedge shot in, and sure enough, all I can hear is this drone again, and I was — I had had enough at that point.
“Rules official from the R&A was just beside us, and I brought her over, and I said, ‘Look, this drone needs to get out of here. I’ve said it three times now. The drone is annoying me, the drone’s putting me off, it’s too close.’
“I mean, it’s easier when the blimp’s up there, but it’s obviously the weather and stuff and it’s just — I had a job to do, and anything that was getting in my way was getting told to get out of the way. That’s just the way — I was focused today, and that drone was doing my head, and so I told it to get away.”
Caddies were a theme at the Canadian Open, but not just for MacIntyre’s father.
Veteran bagman Mike “Fluff” Cowan injured himself in a fall during the final round, forcing his player, CT Pan, to first summon a fan, then another, before settling on a fourth person en route to a final round 69.
This prompted playing partner Lowry to say, “Fourth caddie? That’s a f**king record now!” as he greeted yet another bag handler with a handshake and a big smile.