Robert MacIntyre opened with a strong 3-under 67 on Thursday at The Open Championship, but his moment on the mic created headlines.

MacIntyre didn't hold back about what he thought of the closing hole.

During the first round of the 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in Southport on July 16, MacIntyre found the fairway off the tee on 18 but pulled his approach from 242 yards out, hooking it right into the rough beside the green.

His reaction was caught on a clip shown by NUCLR GOLF on X. He turned to his caddie and said: "Such a s*** golf hole, innit? It really is."

He got up and down from the rough to save par. His round of 67 left him two shots behind first-round leader Jackson Suber, who shot 65, and tied for fourth.

The outburst is not the first time MacIntyre's emotions have gotten the better of him on a major stage. Three months ago at the Masters in April, he was reprimanded after making a rude gesture toward the 15th green following a quadruple-bogey nine, part of an eight-over opening round.

Months later, despite the closing frustration at Birkdale, MacIntyre reflected positively on the round after signing his card.

"It was a great start, it was the perfect start," he told reporters, as reported by talkSPORT. "Nice tee shot down one that caught the left edge. Obviously, a great second shot, lovely putt, but yes, I felt like I played really well. A couple of putts I don't know how they missed, but other than that, I felt like it was almost the perfect round of golf with a great scramble at the last."

MacIntyre begins his second round Friday at 12:25 p.m. alongside Rickie Fowler and Alex Fitzpatrick.

What a Major Title Would Mean to Robert MacIntyre

The 29-year-old world No. 15 has made no secret of how much a major means to him.

His best finish at The Open came in 2019, when he tied for sixth at Royal Portrush. He addressed the subject directly after his round.

"If I won an Open, won any major, if something happened, I could happily walk away from the game of golf," he said to reporters, as reported by talkSPORT. "Openly say it, I'll say it until I'm blue in the face. It would be all my goals that I ever dreamed of complete if I'd done that, but there's a long way to go. You've got four chances every year, so I'm hoping to play the game for ten years, and I've got a fair few efforts at that."

MacIntyre's two PGA Tour wins both came in 2024. The Genesis Scottish Open and the RBC Canadian Open. His best major finish came at the 2025 U.S. Open, where he finished runner-up. He reached a career-high world ranking of fifth in January 2026.

What do you think about MacIntyre's outburst on the 18th at Royal Birkdale? Let us know in the comments!

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Written by

Sneha Abraham

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar