Robert MacIntyre didn’t exactly have the best start at The Open. During the first round, he refused to tee off until a drone overhead had stopped hovering on the first tee. Then on the 18th hole, his second shot ended up in the rough, and he was caught on the hot mic telling his caddie, “Such a s— golf hole, innit? It really is.” This frustration carried over to the final round when he smashed his club after the tee shot and received a code-of-conduct warning from the officials. But he was completely unapologetic about his behavior during Sunday’s press conference. 

“I’m going to do it for the rest of my career,” he said. “I try and toe the line, but when you feel you’re playing a golf course that you can hit it pretty much anywhere, and there’s no real punishment, and then you do hit one slightly off line, you get the biggest punishment you can possibly get. Again, I’m going to react aggressively at times. Part of my DNA.”

The moment unfolded on the 16th tee box, where MacIntyre eventually made a bogey. His animated reaction to the tee shot prompted the commentator to speculate that the Scottish golfer could face a code of conduct violation. Those concerns were justified, as officials indeed warned MacIntyre after he completed his final round. In an official statement released to the media, the R&A confirmed the news. 

🤔 golf trivia

This Should Be an Easy One, Right?

01/10

Under Which Golf Rule Was Bryson DeChambeau Penalized for Improving His Lie?

Rule 8.1 Rule 4.1b Rule 16.1 Rule 14.7b

Oops, bogey!

But don’t worry, there’s still the back 9 to prove your high golf IQ

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“Robert MacIntyre was issued with an official warning under The Open serious misconduct policy for slamming a club into the ground after his tee shot on the 16th hole.”

The R&A had introduced a new player code of conduct earlier this year. This policy outlines strict penalties for ‘serious misconduct’, where a first offense typically results in a warning, and a second can cost strokes or lead to disqualification. But MacIntyre couldn’t care less. 

“To be honest, I couldn’t care less. If I got a two-shot penalty, it’s my fault,” he added when asked about the implementation of the new rules. “A warning, it’s my fault. I don’t really worry about it.”

Regardless of how he feels about the new rules, MacIntyre’s outburst on the 16th did nothing to improve his disastrous performance in the final round. He scored one birdie and two bogeys on the front nine and two bogeys and two birdies on the back nine, finishing 1-over par 71. However, the tournament had begun on a much better note for the 29-year-old. 

MacIntyre shot a 3-under 67 in the first round and a 1-under 69 in the second. His problems started on Moving Day when he scored four bogeys and three birdies to finish 1-over par 71. Robert MacIntyre is currently T28, not the place he might have expected after finishing tied for third at the Genesis Scottish Open last week.

Despite his performance troubles, the Scot had known The Open would test his patience before he even teed off on Thursday. 

“I knew from the practice days this was going to be a real test of my patience, real test of my mind, and I thought I had done a great job,” he had said after the first round. 

Still, Sunday’s incident was far from his first. During the BMW Championship last year, he blew a four-shot final-round lead to Scottie Scheffler. MacIntyre admitted he was so frustrated that he wanted to “smash up” his golf clubs. However, when asked a few days later if his clubs had survived, he revealed the truth. 

Apparently, his caddie, Mike Burrows, had taken them away before he could get to them. And let’s not forget that MacIntyre flipped his middle finger in frustration after a poor shot during the Masters, prompting a code of conduct review. While he evaded a fine, Masters officials reprimanded him. 

And as he hinted during Sunday’s press conference, we may get to see many more outbursts from MacIntyre in the future.