THE MODERATOR: Good morning. We'd like to welcome defending champion of the RBC Canadian Open Bob MacIntyre to the interview room.
Bob, an emotional win last year. Can you talk through what it's like to be back here in Canada?
ROBERT MACINTYRE: Obviously last year it was special, but to come back to a place that I've got fond memories of -- obviously a different golf course, but as a place, as a country, with the fans as well. Being left-handed, I thought the support I got was unbelievable, all the way until Sunday afternoon when they were obviously wanting a Canadian to win.
No, it's always special to come back somewhere you've got fond memories of.
Q. You're looking to secure your third Tour win this week. What's your game plan going into the week?
ROBERT MACINTYRE: To be honest, it's the same as every other week. Try and build into the week, keep things simple. Look, the last two weeks have been pretty good for me. Starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel.
It's not been kind of easy sailing for me this year. It's been a little bit of trying to fix certain things. But now I feel like we're on the right path and the game's starting to kind of merge together.
Q. Have you had a chance to look at the golf course yet? I know we said it's a new course this year at TPC Toronto.
ROBERT MACINTYRE: I went and played Hamilton yesterday with my dad with two of the members at Hamilton. We had a nice day yesterday to try and kind of relive the memories and enjoy what we achieved, to be honest with you.
It was something special that I probably will never do again in my life. Obviously I had my dad on the bag. But we went there and just hung out for four or five hours and just enjoyed everyone's company.
Q. In terms of National Opens and the significance of them and why it's important just to have them as kind of important events in golf, what would you say about that and what they mean to golf in general?
ROBERT MACINTYRE: I spoke of this before. I think it's massive. National Opens are huge. Being from Europe, we've got a lot of National Opens -- Scottish Open, French Open, Spanish Open, one event in Belgium, last week in Austria. I just think it brings out more if there's one event in a specific area, like here this week.
There's a lot of Canadian players here this week obviously wanting to win the Canadian Open. Everyone's wanting to win this week, but it just adds an extra incentive for the Canadian guys because it's the Canadian Open, and I think the crowd also builds on that. They try to get some more kind of praise and applauds for good golf to the Canadians, which is -- I mean, I get that in Scotland and elsewhere, wherever, like a Frenchman in France, it's the exact same stuff.
National Opens are a massive part of the game. I just wish that we'd done more to promote a lot more National Opens.
Q. You mentioned kind of this year it's been not the smoothest of sailing. What are a couple things that I guess you feel like you've been -- they've been rocky that you've been working on wanting to kind of right the ship?
ROBERT MACINTYRE: Look, life's been good. Last year I struggled a little bit with the adjustments of life on the PGA TOUR, but this year it's been more -- almost more golf, it's just golf-related, to be honest with you.
Tee to green, I've been really good. Chipping has not been the best. Not that I've got a problem, it's just I'm chipping on grainy greens that I'm not used to. I'm used to bentgrass. Putting, I've been struggling, but the last -- since I changed putting coaches at Pebble Beach, my putting is now coming back to where I want it to be.
To be honest, right now my game's in a great spot again, and I'm looking forward to what's ahead.
Q. In a kind of off-beat one that you can take however you like, but what's one thing that you like about yourself? Could be in golf, out of golf.
ROBERT MACINTYRE: Most of time I don't give a... about what's going on. I don't really care about what -- I really don't care about other people's opinions, to be honest with you. If you're not part of my team, not part of the inner circle, your opinion really doesn't matter to me.
I think that's a massive thing, especially in the sport we play. I think it helps with, when you're trying to move forward, you're trying to dissect every part of the game to try and get better. I think, if you take too many opinions in that really aren't trying to help you, then, yeah, it doesn't help at all.
I think something I like is I don't really care about what others think outside of my team and my friends or my family.
Q. Is that something that's been your whole life you've had that naturally, or is that something you've had to work on?
ROBERT MACINTYRE: It's kind of something I've always had. Look, I've always been different. I grew up in a small town on the West Coast of Scotland that I wasn't given everything. I was given a lot of stuff to try and achieve my dreams, but I wasn't given everything, and I just worked hard for it and I trusted what I do, and I still do that.
When I'm changing people on my team, when I'm changing schedule on the fly during the year, like I played Dallas this year. I wasn't going to play Dallas until Thursday of the PGA. I just thought, you know what, my game's in a good spot. I feel like I'm building. I need to keep playing to build confidence, to build momentum. I go there, play well.
It's just little things like that, I just feel like I can -- I don't make decisions easily. I really think them through, and even if I swing that back to the golf side of it, if one of my coaches is telling me to do something, I don't just do it. The first question is why, why am I doing this? And then we go from there.
I've always been different, if I'm being honest with you. I still live life normally, but I've always been different in the way that I think and the way that I do things from amateur golf even up to where I am now.
Q. Obviously you win here, fast forward maybe five weeks, and you win in Scotland, right? You win the Scottish Open, incredible, your national Open. Just wondering, was that event, was it a heavy weight for you to carry to try to win that tournament given obviously it's your national Open? Or since you did it in your third attempt, did you not even think about it being a heavy weight to carry?
ROBERT MACINTYRE: I wouldn't say a heavy weight, it's just it was a goal of mine, a lifetime goal. I grew up watching the Scottish Opens at Loch Lomond when it was a Barclays Scottish Open, an hour and a half west of Loch Lomond, so it was the closest golf tournament, professional golf tournament there was in Scotland.
We used to go every year, whether it was me and my dad, me and my mom, my sisters or a couple of pals, we'd always go there. When I made it in the professional game, I've always thought, man, there's one golf tournament I want to win, and that's the Scottish Open.
The first year I went there, I was an unknown, I was new on the Tour, 2019. Yeah, it was good. It was a great experience playing with Rickie and Rory the first round, I was in the deep end.
The second year I was like this is the one I want to win. I was public about it. I said it to everyone, outside of the major championships, Scottish Open is the one I want to win. Obviously came close in my second attempt.
Again, patched up last year, and I just kept saying it. If you believe it's going to happen, I think you've got more of a chance of it happening. Again, last year was kind of fairytale, the way I won Canada with my dad on the bag, and then winning the Scottish Open. I mean, I honestly couldn't ask for a better year unless I won a major championship, to be honest.
Q. Just to kind of put a pin on your day yesterday at Hamilton, did you know the trophy was going to be there? Did you take any time to go back to where any of the shots were or anything like that? Could you maybe expand a little bit more on your day at Hamilton yesterday?
ROBERT MACINTYRE: The guys were absolutely brilliant. I've kept in touch with quite a few of them.
When we won, we sat in the clubhouse until about 11:30 just drinking beers and just having a good time. Nothing wild, just -- so I've always kept in touch with them guys that we spent time with.
I said, if I can, I'd love to play Hamilton on the Monday. They were like, yeah, yeah, just keep in touch. Let us know what's happening. Told my dad last week, look, do you want to come to Canada again? You're not caddieing, but you can come and have a holiday again. Again, he's hemming and hawing about leaving his work, and my mom ended up saying, look, you're 60 now. Get to Canada.
He came, and we went there yesterday, and they actually put the pin positions out for the Sunday of the Canadian Open. So we were kind of reminiscing of certain shots, certain putts.
Look, it's just special for me and my dad to go back there and just enjoy a round of golf without the media, without the crowds, without any hassle. Just reliving a moment that -- I mean, I don't know if it will be done again on the PGA TOUR, to be honest with you, winning with your dad on the bag. I know it happens lower down on the tours, Challenge Tour, EuroPro, potentially Korn Ferry, but on the PGA TOUR, it was something special. Yesterday was great fun.
Q. Just picking up on all that again with your dad, first of all, how's he going to watch it? Is he just going to follow you around like it's a regular tournament? Does he have the itch to get back on that bag, maybe needling you a little bit, asking if he can get on it?
ROBERT MACINTYRE: No, not a chance. He used to be a really good sportsman, and he knows my game inside out. He hates watching me on -- I think he's better watching me live than he is watching from back home in Scotland on the apps and thinking how has he missed that putt? He's better onsite being able to see what's going on.
No, he'll just walk about, keep his head down, probably with his hat on. Yeah, just enjoy his time in Canada again. We've obviously got fond memories of being here.
Q. I'm curious, in general, just other players on Tour, obviously everyone does things their own way, but do you ever kind of observe what other guys are doing and kind of get clues for things that could help you?
ROBERT MACINTYRE: Yeah, every day I'm out here, I'm looking at different things, different people. I think you can always strive to be better. I've still not worked out what Scottie Scheffler does day in and day out.
Yeah, I see different things. That's why I think my putting has been improving. I obviously changed coaches, but I'm also changing little processes within my practice and doing little things that can try and help me perform.
I think if someone's a great putter and you're not the greatest and watch them, see what they do. What do they different than you do? What do they do better? Same with the long game, same with chipping, same with driving. There's little things that the best do that you wouldn't. It's just try and dissect that and pick apart what they do and then use little bits that you think would help you.
There's obviously bits that wouldn't help you because I'm built different from the other guys. Just try and piece it all together and make it work. The simple thing in this game is just try and get that little bit better every time. Whether that little bit better comes over a year, whether it comes over a day, whether it comes a week, month, it doesn't matter, as long as you're just -- you can see that you're getting better, that's all I can ask for.
Q. You alluded to Scottie. Is there anything from Scottie or from Rory that you've particularly picked up on that you've kind of implemented?
ROBERT MACINTYRE: Not yet. There's little things that I want to try, but when you're in the middle of the season, I can't do that. I'm trying to get to that point, but there's things I think I need to sit down with the team and work that out.
When I'm in a run of six, seven events, it's like head down and keep fighting at this point.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports