HAMILTON, Ontario – DP World Tour graduates Robert MacIntyre and Ryan Fox are taking advantage of earning PGA Tour privileges this season north of the border.
MacIntyre, a Scotsman who represented Team Europe at the Ryder Cup in Rome, and Fox, a New Zealand native, were among 10 DP World Tour pros who graduated to the PGA Tour this season for the first time. Earlier this year, Frenchman Matthieu Pavon won the Farmers Insurance Open and Finland’s Sami Valimaki finished second at the Mexico Open.
The agreement to give cards to DP World Tour pros was one of the final deals produced by former DP World Tour commissioner Keith Pelley, a Canadian, who must love seeing this leaderboard. When Pelley announced he was taking a new post outside of golf back in his native country with Maple Leaf Sports Enterprises, MacIntyre was asked what his legacy would be. “He got me to the PGA Tour, didn’t he?” MacIntyre said. “He’s given me a pathway to achieve dreams I’ve always wanted to achieve.”
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The Scotsman is bogey-free through 36 holes and shares the lead with Fox with a total of 10-under 130 — and that much closer to achieving that dream of winning on the PGA Tour.
Here’s four more things to know about the second round of the RBC Canadian Open.
Father knows best
Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre is bogey-free through 36 holes with dad, Dougie, on the bag as his emergency caddie.
“He jumped at the chance,” the PGA Tour rookie said of his old man, who serves as a greenkeeper back home at Glencruitten Golf Course in Oban, Scotland. “It’s good to just spend an extra week with loved ones.”
MacIntyre, who fired a 4-under 66 at Hamilton Golf & Country Club on Friday, parted ways with his previous caddie after missing the cut last week. He called his father Saturday to ask him to fill in this week and he hopped on a flight the next day. It’s the first time MacIntyre has had his dad, who he tabbed a good golfer in his own right, on the bag since he caddied at DP World Tour Q-School seven years ago. For more on this story, click here.
Hughes in the hunt
Nick Taylor ended the 69-year drought without a Canadian native winning the RBC Canadian Open. Wouldn’t it be funny if they had back-to-back champions?
Mackenzie Hughes, who grew up nearby and took lessons at host course Hamilton Golf & Country Club as a junior, thrust himself into the conversation, ridding a sizzling hot putter to a 6-under 64 on Friday.
“I walk around this place often and think about myself as a young kid. I was here a lot as a young kid watching these tournaments in 2003 and 2006. I remember thinking how cool it was back then. I wanted to get close to the players, get autographs and all that,” Hughes said. “Yesterday on the first tee when they announced me and they say Dundas, Ontario, like just knowing how close that is to here it kind of hit me that it was really, really special. Doing it here does feel different. Being in Toronto is obviously still home, but I spent time here as a kid.”
After an opening 1-under 69, Hughes, who started on No. 10, birdied three of his first six holes and holed a 60-degree wedge from 79 yards at No. 12 to shoot 5-under 30 on his first nine and join the fray. After another birdie at No. 1, Hughes attempted to tee off first in his group but it was Shane Lowry’s honor.
“You got to give me that tee at least once today,” Lowry said.
Lowry wouldn’t have the tee for long because Hughes canned a 12-foot eagle putt at the fourth.
Hughes needed the oven mitts for his sizzling putter. He took just 22 putts and leads the field in SG: Putting through 36 holes. The Canadian faithful were loving it and Hughes was feeding off their energy.
“Those putts just seemed to be going in the middle of the hole and it got loud and it got really exciting there. I know the weekend will be even more amped up than that and I’m excited for it,” he said.
After the eagle at four, Hughes, who figures he’s played Hamilton some 50 times, realized he could shoot a special number.
“I knew standing in 7 fairway if I birdied the last three holes it was 59 too, so I was definitely aware of it coming down the end,” he said.
But Hughes made what he termed “two mental mistakes” at Nos. 7 and 8 that resulted in bogeys and left him settling for 64, the best round of the day.
“While the finish was disappointing, I look at the whole body of work,” he said. “Starting today if you told me I was going to shoot 64, I would have taken it. So it gets me into contention for the weekend and that’s all I can ask for.”
Hughes is low Canadian through two rounds at 7-under 133 and T-4, and his words from the pre-championship press conference are starting to ring true.
“I’m here to win this trophy, it wouldn’t matter if it was for a thousand bucks or a million bucks, I’m here to play well and win this tournament,” he said.
Dahmen's Canadian return
Joel Dahmen hadn’t played in the Canadian Open in five years, but the PGA Tour Canada Player of the Year from a decade ago is happy to be back. He fired a 5-under 65 on Friday and sits in third place, just two shots back of the lead.
“I came here on Tuesday and I just kind of had great vibes again,” Dahmen said. “I almost felt bad I hadn’t been back. The schedule didn’t work out previously. It is, it’s a really special place.”
And special for Dahmen for good reason: he played 45 events over five seasons on PGA Tour Canada (2010-2014) and won twice in 2014 to earn his Korn Ferry Tour card.
Asked what has been working for him this week, Dahmen, who ranks No. 119 in the FedEx Cup standings, said, “Kind of done everything well.” Indeed, he ranks 22nd in SG: Tee-to-Green, fifth in proximity and fourth in SG: Putting.
Dahmen credited the pre-shot visualization work he’s been working hard on to commit to each shot.
“Having a clear plan, which sounds weird that I’ve played golf a long time without a clear plan,” he said. “But, yeah, it’s doing the same thing over and over again and it’s worked out great.
Harry Higgs talked about it a lot the last two weeks, and it’s kind of the same thing, really, you accept where it goes and you go and you do it again. It frees me up to play golf and let my body take over. My body knows what to do if I just kind of stay out of the way.”
So far, so good.
Fox's round could've been 'silly'
New Zealand’s Ryan Fox sunk a 12-foot birdie putt at the ninth hole, his 18th hole of the day, to tie for the 36-hole lead.
Fox fired a 6-under 64, tied for the low round of the day, to tie MacIntyre.
“I drove it great, I hit may irons really good, and had a few more putts drop today. It could have been really silly,” Fox said.
It marks Fox’s first 36-hole lead/co-lead on the PGA Tour.
“Golf course kind of suits my eye,” Fox said. “Similar grass to what we play at home. Similar kind of old style, tree-lined golf course, which is what I grew up on.”
At No. 63 in the Official World Golf Ranking, is the highest-ranked Tour member that has not played in a Signature event this season. He entered the week No. 8 in the Aon Swing 5 standings and is currently projected to move to No. 1 and earn a spot in next week’s Memorial Tournament.
Fox is seeking his first Tour title, but the 37-year-old pro counts four DP World Tour wins on his resume.
A friendly final pairing
In addition to having his dad on the bag, Robert MacIntyre will enjoy being paired with Ryan Fox, a friend from there DP World Tour days.
“He’s a great kid,” Fox said. “We get along really well. Played together a bunch of times in Europe. Played together the first two days at Myrtle Beach this year. We both went pretty well there. Hopefully, we can have a bit of fun tomorrow and feed off each other and be in that final group again on Sunday.”
Speaking at the Myrtle Beach Classic earlier this month, MacIntyre explained why it’s tough traveling alone on the Tour.
“It’s difficult for all the European guys, all the guys in Europe, coming out here this year. Obviously Foxy has got his family out with him. It’s a completely different lifestyle in the U.S., and good or bad, some people love it, some people hate it. It’s just a different culture, different style of life,” he said. :It’s good to have people in the same boat as you. I’ve struggled out here with the lifestyle.”
