Robert MacIntyre birdied the last to claim an emotional home victory and win his first Rolex Series title at the Genesis Scottish Open.
The home favourite produced a stunning finish 12 months ago at The Renaissance Club only to see Rory McIlroy take the title but he would not be denied again in front of his adoring fans.
It needed another big finish as he trailed by three on the back nine but he holed a long putt on the 14th, eagled the 16th after a remarkable approach from the rough to six feet and holed from 22 feet on the last to spark wild celebrations.
His closing 67 saw him finish at 18 under, one shot clear of Australian Adam Scott and two ahead of Frenchman Romain Langasque.
MacIntyre had been saying all week that Scotland’s national open was the "one I want" following his 2023 heartbreak when he birdied the last after a remarkable second only to see McIlroy make a gain at the 17th and then produce some magic of his own to deny him at the death.
Since then MacIntyre has been part of a winning European Ryder Cup team and claimed his first – and now second – win on the PGA TOUR to go with his two previous victories on the DP World Tour.
He could now go as high as 16th on the Official World Golf Ranking, moves to third on the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex and top of the Closing Swing Rankings, but the title of first Scottish winner of this event since Colin Montgomerie 25 years ago is clearly the achievement he treasures most.
Joining MacIntyre at Royal Troon will be English pair Aaron Rai and Richard Mansell and Swede Alex Noren after they finished as the three leading players not already exempt for the season’s final Major Championship.
Rai finished at 14 under alongside McIlroy, overnight leader Ludvig Åberg, South Korea’s Sungjae Im and American pair Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala.
Player quotes
Robert MacIntyre: It’s unbelievable. My reaction when the ball dropped on 18 said it all. I’ve almost lost my voice now. It’s the one I wanted and it’s the one I got. I’ve watched it as a kid growing up, and it meant a lot. It was really the only one that I could go and watch. I can’t believe it’s happened. Just going to go celebrate tonight.
I said to Mike when we walked off of 10, "16 or 17 could win this." Because no one was getting away. No one was making a move. Obviously the bogey on 10 was disappointing but I said last night, the only thing I can do is give 110 percent and that’s what I’ve done. I got lucky at 16 and took the one chance I got on 18, and it’s just my week.
I’ve put a lot of work into this. I’ve changed a lot within the team and I’ve just worked hard. I wanted the Scottish Open.
The crowd has been unbelievable. The crowd support, the support of the Scottish people from 2017, 2018, 2019, the support has been unbelievable.
Close last year but I had my chance here at the end and I just kept saying to myself, ‘just take a chance, take a chance’. I took it. I can’t believe it.
Next week is a new week but I tell you, I’m going to celebrate this with my family, friends, and everyone here. I’m going to celebrate this one hard. We’ll pitch up to The Open when we pitch up to The Open.
Final scores
262 R MACINTYRE (SCO) 67 65 63 67,
263 A SCOTT (AUS) 67 65 64 67,
265 R LANGASQUE (FRA) 66 68 67 64,
266 A RAI (ENG) 68 65 70 63, R MCILROY (NIR) 65 66 67 68, S IM (KOR) 63 67 67 69, S THEEGALA (USA) 66 65 66 69, C MORIKAWA (USA) 65 66 66 69, L ?BERG (SWE) 64 64 65 73,
267 R MANSELL (ENG) 67 69 70 61, W CLARK (USA) 68 68 69 62, A NOREN (SWE) 65 66 71 65, V PEREZ (FRA) 68 66 68 65, C CONNERS (CAN) 65 67 68 67,
268 T KIM (KOR) 69 66 69 64, A DEL REY (ESP) 69 62 72 65, N NORGAARD (DEN) 66 67 70 65, C SYME (SCO) 68 66 67 67, X SCHAUFFELE (USA) 69 65 67 67, M MANASSERO (ITA) 67 63 68 70,
269 B HARMAN (USA) 67 67 69 66, M GREYSERMAN (USA) 67 66 69 67, R H?JGAARD (DEN) 68 63 70 68, H LI (CHN) 64 71 66 68, M KIEFFER (GER) 64 72 64 69,
270 S KIM (KOR) 68 69 71 62, N BACHEM (GER) 67 69 69 65, J CAMPILLO (ESP) 68 67 68 67, T DETRY (BEL) 64 69 69 68, Y PAUL (GER) 65 67 68 70, M JORDAN (ENG) 67 65 68 70, C DAVIS (AUS) 68 66 66 70, A ROZNER (FRA) 65 64 68 73,
271 H ENGLISH (USA) 68 68 70 65, J SVENSSON (SWE) 69 67 70 65, K KITAYAMA (USA) 67 69 70 65, A HADWIN (CAN) 69 65 68 69, T FLEETWOOD (ENG) 65 69 66 71,
272 S SHARMA (IND) 69 68 70 65, T OLESEN (DEN) 68 68 69 67, G FORREST (SCO) 67 69 67 69, B GRIFFIN (USA) 65 70 67 70, M FITZPATRICK (ENG) 67 69 66 70, N H?JGAARD (DEN) 66 66 68 72, E VAN ROOYEN (RSA) 67 67 64 74,
273 D THOMPSON (USA) 65 72 71 65, F MOLINARI (ITA) 66 69 72 66, B TODD (USA) 65 69 71 68, E COLE (USA) 71 64 69 69, J LEE (KOR) 67 68 69 69, V HOVLAND (NOR) 67 69 68 69, L HODGES (USA) 67 68 68 70, B KOHLES (USA) 71 64 68 70, D HILLIER (NZL) 66 71 66 70, M HUGHES (CAN) 66 66 69 72, U COUSSAUD (FRA) 65 67 68 73,
274 S STEVENS (USA) 69 68 71 66, C HOFFMAN (USA) 70 67 70 67, N TAYLOR (CAN) 65 71 69 69, R FOX (NZL) 67 67 70 70,
275 D BROWN (ENG) 65 69 67 74,
276 M SIEM (GER) 69 68 69 70, J THOMAS (USA) 62 72 71 71, S CINK (USA) 66 67 70 73,
277 S POWER (IRL) 69 67 73 68, A WU (CHN) 67 69 70 71,
278 G WOODLAND (USA) 67 69 72 70, J DANTORP (SWE) 67 68 72 71, J LOWER (USA) 64 72 71 71,
279 M HOMA (USA) 67 70 73 69, A NOVAK (USA) 66 71 72 70, J GUERRIER (FRA) 69 68 69 73,
282 M LEE (AUS) 67 70 70 75,
283 T MONTGOMERY (USA) 66 71 72 74,
**
138 C PHILLIPS (USA) 70 68, T HOGE (USA) 70 68, B AN (KOR) 65 73, L DONALD (ENG) 68 70, T MCKIBBIN (NIR) 69 69, S STRAKA (AUT) 70 68, S V?LIM?KI (FIN) 70 68, H MATSUYAMA (JPN) 71 67, C HILL (SCO) 69 69, D GHIM (USA) 70 68, T LAWRENCE (RSA) 71 67, J LUITEN (NED) 68 70, R HOSHINO (JPN) 67 71, D FRITTELLI (RSA) 67 71, N ELVIRA (ESP) 71 67, J GUMBERG (USA) 72 66, A ECKROAT (USA) 67 71, G MIGLIOZZI (ITA) 68 70,
139 P LARRAZ?BAL (ESP) 70 69, L LIST (USA) 70 69, S JAMIESON (SCO) 69 70, K MITCHELL (USA) 69 70, J SPIETH (USA) 71 68, L DE JAGER (RSA) 69 70, A COCKERILL (CAN) 71 68, M ARMITAGE (ENG) 68 71, H LONG (GER) 70 69, C SHINKWIN (ENG) 72 67, L CANTER (ENG) 69 70, S FORSSTR?M (SWE) 72 67, K APHIBARNRAT (THA) 72 67,
140 A FITZPATRICK (ENG) 65 75, M SOUTHGATE (ENG) 70 70, A ARNAUS (ESP) 71 69, J HAM (KOR) 71 69, A PUTNAM (USA) 69 71, E GRILLO (ARG) 72 68, D LAW (SCO) 72 68, B HORSCHEL (USA) 69 71, O WILSON (ENG) 68 72, M WALLACE (ENG) 68 72, M SCHMID (GER) 68 72,
141 D VAN DRIEL (NED) 70 71, B WIESBERGER (AUT) 70 71, R RAMSAY (SCO) 68 73, E FERGUSON (SCO) 73 68, J ROSE (ENG) 69 72, O STRYDOM (RSA) 73 68, S TARRIO (ESP) 70 71, N ECHAVARRIA (COL) 71 70, K NAKAJIMA (JPN) 73 68, L GLOVER (USA) 71 70, P HARRINGTON (IRL) 70 71, J SCRIVENER (AUS) 68 73, M BALDWIN (ENG) 73 68, J WINTHER (DEN) 72 69,
142 A BJ?RK (SWE) 71 71, M HUBBARD (USA) 72 70, T CLEMENTS (ENG) 72 70, K YU (TPE) 73 69, W ZALATORIS (USA) 71 71, D RILEY (USA) 70 72, S PARK (KOR) 69 73,
143 T MOORE (USA) 75 68, R HISATSUNE (JPN) 71 72, J SMITH (ENG) 73 70, C GOTTERUP (USA) 66 77, A OTAEGUI (ESP) 70 73,
144 D WHITNELL (ENG) 70 74, R FOWLER (USA) 73 71, M PAVON (FRA) 74 70,
145 Y KATSURAGAWA (JPN) 69 76, D BRADBURY (ENG) 73 72,
146 B GARNETT (USA) 75 71,
147 D GAVINS (ENG) 73 74, M KAWAMURA (JPN) 76 71, D MCCARTHY (USA) 73 74,
148 S CROCKER (USA) 73 75,
151 C RUECK (AM) (USA) 74 77,
**
OUT C BEZUIDENHOUT (RSA) 69 RT, V NORRMAN (SWE) 70 RT, K LEE (KOR) 74 RT,