[PHOTO: NurPhoto]

Much was made during the week that Robert MacIntyre had his father on the bag at the RBC Canadian Open. The son made his old man more than proud by remaining steadfast during the final round and notching his first PGA Tour win in what seemed like a walk, but ended up being a nail-biter.

MacIntyre dropped a 10-footer on the seventh hole for birdie and followed that with a staked tee shot at the 176-metre, par-3 eighth to three feet for another birdie. At the 11th, a 22-footer fell for another birdie, stretching the lead to five shots before things got interesting.

A pair of bogeys at 12 and 13 and a three-birdie binge from holes 15 through 17 from Ben Griffin cut the margin to one, but MacIntyre held on for the win.

It’s not often a winner ranks outside the top 25 in both strokes gained/off the tee and approach to the green (29th and 44th, respectively), but MacIntyre came up big around and on the greens.

Ranking first in strokes gained/putting, the Scot was a remarkable 11-plus strokes better than the field average for the week. Of course it doesn’t hurt when you’re making 106 feet worth of putts per round, second in the field. MacIntyre’s putter is TaylorMade’s Spider Tour T3 mallet, a model similar to that used by Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.

Around the greens he was served well by his Titleist Vokey SM10 wedges, ranking eighth in strokes gained while getting up and down 14 of 21 times.

The clubs Robert MacIntyre used to win the 2024 RBC Canadian Open:

Ball: Titleist Pro V1

Driver: Titleist TSR2 (Graphite Design Tour AD DI 7X), 9 degrees

3-wood: Cobra Aerojet LS, 14.5 degrees

Hybrid: TaylorMade Stealth 2, 19 degrees

Irons (4-9): Titleist 620 CB

Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM10 (46, 50, 56, 60 degrees)

Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour T3