Tag: 2023 Genesis Scottish Open

If Robert MacIntyre never wins a Scottish Open he’ll ‘struggle to forgive’ Rory McIlroy for stealing one

The probability that McIlroy would birdie both the 17th and 18th was just 0.15 percent.

Robert MacIntyre admitted he might struggle to forgive Rory McIlroy for snatching victory from his grasp if he fails to add the Genesis Scottish Open title to his resume.

MacIntyre had set a daunting clubhouse target last year thanks to a sensational birdie on the 18th, just the second of the day on the closing hole at the Renaissance Club as strong winds made for testing conditions.

However, overnight leader McIlroy birdied the par-three 17th to get on level terms and then hit a stunning 2-iron approach into the last – which has since been commemorated with a plaque – before holing from 10 feet to seal an improbable win.

According to Ryder Cup statistics guru Edoardo Molinari, the probability that McIlroy would birdie both the 17th and 18th was just 0.15 percent.

“I don’t think I’ll ever forgive him if I don’t win a Scottish Open,” MacIntyre said with the hint of a smile. “If it’s not a major championship, this is the one I want.

“It was an incredible golf shot he hit. That was the winning shot, really. It was a good shot and it was a bit heartbreaking.”

Asked if he had spoken to McIlroy about it when they were teammates on Europe’s Ryder Cup side two months later, MacIntyre added: “I asked him one question at some point during the party.

“I had not spoken to him at all about it since the day it happened, and I always wanted to ask him about the putt (on 18). He thought he had missed it and it went in. So it just shows you, it doesn’t have to be perfect for it to work out.”

Scottish Open: Leaderboard | Photos

MacIntyre’s decision to take up his PGA Tour card this season certainly did not look like working out earlier this year, the left-hander openly admitting he was struggling to adapt to being away from home before benefiting hugely from a three-week spell back in Scotland.

2023 Genesis Scottish Open
Robert MacIntyre tees off on the 14th hole during the final round of the 2023 Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club in United Kingdom. (Photo: Octavio Passos/Getty Images)

The 27-year-old returned to the United States and finished eighth in the US PGA Championship before winning the RBC Canadian Open with his dad caddying, but will not be renewing the lease on his rental property in Florida when it runs out shortly.

“I’m still going to play over there,” MacIntyre said. “I’m just not going to pay a lot of money for a rental that I’m not staying in. I’ll maybe take a house for maybe a month, two months when I’m there.

“I’ve joined Isleworth so that will always be a place I go and practise in the wintertime, but there’s nothing like home. Scotland, this is where I want to be.”

MacIntyre admitted he was a bundle of nerves when he played alongside McIlroy in the Scottish Open in 2019, but it will be a different story when the pair are joined by Ryder Cup teammate Viktor Hovland for the first two rounds this week.

“Obviously with the Ryder Cup, being part of a team, I know him a lot better personally,” MacIntyre said.

“I’m still miles away from being one of his close pals, but I feel like if I ever need anything or ever want to ask a question, I can pick up the phone and ask. And Viktor I’ve known since we were 14, 15 years old playing boys’ golf.

“This is probably the most calm I’ve been (coming into a Scottish Open). It’s not been as frantic. Things have been under control. Yeah, my game has been up and down but it’s been up and down my whole golfing life.

“But this is the one that, as a Scot, I really want.

“Last year I came really close but there may not be another opportunity like that in my career playing golf. I’ve just got to try and play it as another event and give it my absolute best, which I will do.”

Spoiler alert: Rory McIlroy to be greeted by a pleasant surprise when he returns to The Renaissance Club for Genesis Scottish Open

“When I turn 80, it will be one of the five best shots I hit in my entire career.”

All eyes will be on Rory McIlroy next week at the Genesis Scottish Open as he looks to defend his title and there will be a surprise waiting for him. (#SpoilerAlert)

But more importantly, what sort of head space will he be in after seeing the U.S. Open title slip through his hands?

McIlroy, winner of four career majors but winless in his last 37 major starts, a stretch of nearly 10 years, held a two-shot lead with five holes to play at Pinehurst No. 2 but he made bogey on three of the four final holes to let Bryson DeChambeau finish a stroke better than him and walk off with his second U.S. Open title.

At No. 16, McIlroy missed from 2 feet, 6 inches, his first missed putt inside three feet in 496 attempts and then he missed a tricky downhill, left-to-right slider from 3 feet, 9 inches at No. 18 for par that would’ve been good enough for a playoff.

McIlroy departed without speaking to the media and issued a statement on social media the next day, announcing that he would be pulling out of the Travelers Championship.

“I’m going to take a few weeks away from the game to process everything and build myself back up for my defense of the Genesis Scottish Open and The Open at Royal Troon. See you in Scotland,” he wrote.

And when he gets to the Renaissance Club in North Berwick, he’ll find a pleasant surprise on the 18th hole, a plaque honoring his remarkable 2-iron from 202 yards into a 40-mph wind to 11 feet to set up the winning birdie. The plaque was just added on Monday.

“We just did it today,” said Jerry Sarvadi, founder of the club. “We’re going to tell him when he gets here.”

It was one of the golf shots of the year and McIlroy went one step further.

“He said, ‘When I turn 80, it will be one of the five best shots I hit in my entire career,’ ” Sarvadi recalled.

Perhaps the plaque and a return to the site of last year’s glory at the Scottish Open will provide a spark that McIlroy can carry into the British Open, to be held just a few hours away at Royal Troon.

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Rory McIlroy dishes on state of his relationship with Sergio Garcia

“It’s good that we’re at least talking again.”

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GULLANE, Scotland — Making up is hard.

Whereas Sergio Garcia recently went so far as to say that “I have that friend back,” a reference to his very public rift with Rory McIlroy over his defection to LIV last year, McIlroy wouldn’t quite go that far.

“We’ve talked, which is a first step,” McIlroy said.

The two European Ryder Cup teammates were such good friends that McIlroy was part of Garcia’s wedding party in 2017. But the friction of the feud between PGA Tour and LIV spilled over to their relationship in the past year with Garcia saying McIlroy “lacked maturity” at one point, and McIlroy admitting he had deleted Garcia’s number after he texted him during the 2022 RBC Canadian “basically telling me to shut up about LIV.”

With the framework agreement signed on June 6 between the Tour and PIF meant, in part, to repair the fractured relationship in professional, Garcia detailed how at the LIV London event that he and McIlroy reconnected after McIlroy interacted with Garcia’s wife, Angela, at the U.S. Open last month.

“The U.S. Open was a great event for me,” Garcia said. “I feel like I played well. But more than anything, because I gained a friend back, a friend that I kind of felt like I lost in the last year or so. We talked and we had a great conversation, and I feel like I have that friend back, and that to me means a lot. That’s a very positive thing.”

“Angela and Rory said ‘Hi’ to each other at the U.S. Open,” Garcia said. “And there was a nice text from Rory to her. That kind of gave me the go-ahead to reach out to him.

“I had been thinking about it for a while, but I wasn’t totally sure about it. And when I saw that reaction from him, he kind of gave me the go-ahead to get closer. We had a great chat. It was two friends that wanted to get back to that spot. That’s the most important thing.”

When asked Sunday during his Genesis Scottish Open winner’s news conference how happy he was to get his friendship with Garcia back, McIlroy said, “Yeah, there’s, you know, there’s things that we both think we probably could have done differently, and there’s a lot that’s went into it. You know, it’s good that we’re at least talking again. It’s a first step. I wouldn’t say we are all the way there but we are – it’s a good first step.”

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2023 Genesis Scottish Open prize money payouts at The Renaissance Club

The event featured a $9 million total purse with $1.62 million going to the winner.

The Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland, hosted the 2023 Genesis Scottish Open, an event co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour.

The tournament, which dates back to 1972, had a stout field, with defending champion Xander Schauffele joined by world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Patrick Cantlay.

The event featured a $9 million total purse with $1.575 million going to McIlroy. Second-place isn’t too shabby either, with $975,500 going to runnerup Robert MacIntyre.

In all, 77 golfers got paid this week after making the cut.

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Pos Name Score Earnings
1 Rory McIlroy -15 $1,575,000
2 Robert MacIntyre -14 $985,500
T3 David Lingmerth -10 $468,450
T3 Byeong Hun An -10 $468,450
T3 Scottie Scheffler -10 $468,450
T6 Nicolai Hojgaard -9 $261,990
T6 Tyrrell Hatton -9 $261,990
T6 J.T. Poston -9 $261,990
T6 Tommy Fleetwood -9 $261,990
T6 Tom Kim -9 $261,990
11 Grant Forrest -8 $197,100
T12 Jordan Smith -7 $151,007
T12 Ewen Ferguson -7 $151,007
T12 Lee Hodges -7 $151,007
T12 Ryan Fox -7 $151,007
T12 Max Homa -7 $151,007
T12 Shane Lowry -7 $151,007
T12 Brian Harman -7 $151,007
T19 Sean Crocker -6 $105,750
T19 Nick Taylor -6 $105,750
T19 Sam Burns -6 $105,750
T19 Garrick Higgo -6 $105,750
T19 Tom Hoge -6 $105,750
T19 Corey Conners -6 $105,750
T25 Gary Woodland -5 $73,598
T25 Ben Griffin -5 $73,598
T25 Will Gordon -5 $73,598
T25 Yannik Paul -5 $73,598
T25 Calum Hill -5 $73,598
T25 Wyndham Clark -5 $73,598
T25 Romain Langasque -5 $73,598
T25 Marcel Schneider -5 $73,598
T25 Thorbjorn Olesen -5 $73,598
T25 Viktor Hovland -5 $73,598
T35 Alexander Bjork -4 $52,811
T35 Tom McKibbin -4 $52,811
T35 Luke List -4 $52,811
T35 Min Woo Lee -4 $52,811
T35 Davis Riley -4 $52,811
T35 Victor Perez -4 $52,811
T35 Tapio Pulkkanen -4 $52,811
T42 Ben Martin -3 $36,255
T42 Thomas Detry -3 $36,255
T42 Padraig Harrington -3 $36,255
T42 Maximilian Kieffer -3 $36,255
T42 Richie Ramsay -3 $36,255
T42 Rickie Fowler -3 $36,255
T42 Matt Wallace -3 $36,255
T42 Xander Schauffele -3 $36,255
T42 Sebastian Soderberg -3 $36,255
T42 Jorge Campillo -3 $36,255
T42 Marcel Siem -3 $36,255
T42 Andrew Putnam -3 $36,255
T54 Joost Luiten -2 $26,190
T54 Daniel Hillier -2 $26,190
T54 Joakim Lagergren -2 $26,190
T54 Julien Brun -2 $26,190
T54 Kurt Kitayama -2 $26,190
T54 Guido Migliozzi -2 $26,190
T60 Dale Whitnell -1 $23,220
T60 Justin Thomas -1 $23,220
T60 Harry Hall -1 $23,220
T60 Eric Cole -1 $23,220
T60 Lucas Herbert -1 $23,220
T65 Ashun Wu E $20,340
T65 Billy Horschel E $20,340
T65 Austin Eckroat E $20,340
T68 Adri Arnaus +1 $19,170
T68 Gavin Green +1 $19,170
T68 Antoine Rozner +1 $19,170
T68 Erik van Rooyen +1 $19,170
72 K.H. Lee +2 $18,720
73 Ben Taylor +3 $18,540
74 Connor Syme +4 $18,360
75 Dan Bradbury +5 $18,180
76 Sami Valimaki +6 $18,000
77 Matthew Jordan +7 $17,820

 

See Rory McIlroy’s winning golf equipment from the 2023 Scottish Open

A look at the golf equipment McIlroy used to win for the 24th time on the PGA Tour.

A complete list of the golf equipment Rory McIlroy used to win the PGA Tour’s 2023 Scottish Open:

DRIVER: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus+ (9 degrees), with Ventus TR Blue 6 X shaft

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Rory McIlroy’s driver” link=”https://globalgolf.pxf.io/xkNx0v”]

FAIRWAY WOOD: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus+ (15 degrees), with TR Blue 8 X shaft

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Rory McIlroy’s fairway wood” link=”https://globalgolf.pxf.io/3ed5Vd”]

IRONS: TaylorMade P·760 (2), with Project X HZRDUS Black 6.5 105 shaft, TaylorMade P·760 (4), RORS Proto (5-9), with Project X 7.0 shafts

WEDGES: TaylorMade MG3 (46), MG4 (50, 54, 60 degrees), with Project X 6.5 shafts

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Rory McIlroy’s wedges – $179.99″ link=”https://globalgolf.pxf.io/Gj5XGL”]

PUTTER: TaylorMade Spider X Hydro Blast Flow Neck

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Rory McIlroy’s putter” link=”https://imp.i366014.net/jrOEM0″]

BALL: TaylorMade TP5

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Rory McIlroy’s golf ball” link=”https://pga-tour-superstore.pxf.io/m5zAqX”]

GRIPS: Golf Pride MCC (full swing) / Super StrokeZenergy Pistol Tour (putter)

PHOTO GALLERY: Rory McIlroy’s equipment through the years

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Rory McIlroy birdies final two holes to win 2023 Genesis Scottish Open

Wherever he goes, McIlroy is a crowd favorite but on this occasion he broke a lot of hearts.

GULLANE, Scotland — After Rory McIlroy birdied the final two holes on Sunday to win the Genesis Scottish Open in dramatic fashion, he saw fellow pro Robert McIntyre giving a post-round interview near scoring and went over and wrapped a comforting arm around the tournament runner-up. “I’m sorry,” he said in a tone of genuine sincerity.

Wherever he goes, McIlroy is a crowd favorite but on this occasion he broke a lot of hearts by closing in 2-under 68 at The Renaissance Club to edge Scotland’s top-ranked player by a stroke at his national championship.

“I mean, c’mon,” McIntyre said, breaking into a smile. “Some finish.”

Indeed, it was. McIlroy, the 54-hole leader, sank an 11-foot birdie putt at the last for a 72-hole total of 15-under 265 and earned his 24th PGA Tour title, tying him with Gary Player and Dustin Johnson in 26th place on the all-time win list. It also marked his first win on European soil in seven years since the Horizon Irish Open, and he became the first player to win the Irish Open, Scottish Open and Open Championship.

“It feels incredible,” McIlroy said. “To play that back nine 4-under par to win the tournament, yeah, really proud of how I just stuck in there.”

With all of Scotland trying to will him to victory, MacIntyre handled swirling, gusting winds to shoot 6-under 64 and take the clubhouse lead. He made his move on the back nine with a 6-foot eagle putt at No. 10 and a pair of birdies at 14 and 15. MacIntyre went 33 holes on the weekend without a bogey before missing a seven-foot par putt at the par-5 16th, but he rebounded with a solid up-and-down par at 17.

McIlroy tied him with a birdie of his own at 14 before MacIntyre delivered just the second birdie all day at 18, drilling a fairway wood from 213 yards to 4 feet. As he headed to sign his scorecard, MacIntyre’s eyes watered, a visible sign of how much winning on home soil would’ve meant to the 26-year-old who grew up attending the Scottish Open as a kid.

“I thought, ‘This might be the one,’” he said.

But McIlroy spoiled the script, just as he had done once before at the 2013 Australian Open, where an entire country was pulling for native son Adam Scott.

Tee times on Sunday were moved up several hours to try to avoid unplayable conditions, but the wind still was whipping with gusts at 40 miles per hour. McIlroy and Tom Kim traded the early lead until Kim (71), who finished T-3, made three straight bogeys at the turn and McIlroy dropped shots at Nos. 8 and 9, giving him four bogeys in all on the front nine. England’s Tyrrell Hatton (69) took a turn in the lead with birdies at Nos. 11 and 13 but made two bogeys coming home and a double at the last to finish at 9 under.

McIlroy, 34, showed plenty of resolve in notching his 16th win on the DP World Tour, his first title worldwide since the Dubai Desert Classic in January, and first triumph on Scottish soil. As he stepped to the 17th tee, the 2013 Australian Open popped into McIlroy’s head. Back then, he trailed Scott with two holes to play and birdied the last to clip him by a shot and spoil the crowd-favorite’s win on home soil. This time, he nailed a 5-iron at the 191-yard par-3 to 5 feet and made birdie. At the home hole, he had 202 yards, which set up for his 3-iron. However, he had taken that club out of his bag this week in favor of a 2-iron so chose that club instead and tried to hit cut it into the teeth of the wind.

“It came off absolutely perfectly,” McIlroy said. “Probably the best shot I hit all year. It was exactly the way I wanted to play it.”

McIlroy’s putter had been cold on Sunday when he was unable to win the U.S. Open, but on this occasion, he had the right stuff, dripping in the 11-foot birdie putt to clinch the title.

“It was straight down wind,” McIlroy said. “I just needed to get it started on line, and gravity and the wind and conditions will take care of the rest. It hung on nicely for me.”

Sweden’s David Lingmerth (68) and South Korea’s Ben An (69) tied for third and Denmark’s Nicolai Hojgaard (67) tied for sixth to earn their way into next week’s 151st British Open as the leading three finishers who weren’t already exempt into the championship, which will be held at Royal Liverpool.

McIlroy had been plagued by a troubling case of “Sunday-itis,” shooting 75 in the final round of the Memorial to finish T-7, 72 in the final round of the RBC Canadian Open to slip to T-9 and 70 on Sunday at the U.S. Open to finish second.

2023 Genesis Scottish Open
Rory McIlroy celebrates with putting coach Brad Faxon after winning the 2023 Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club in United Kingdom. (Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

“If there’s anybody asking questions about if he can close out on Sunday, he’s answered them all with this performance,” said NBC Sports golf analyst Brad Faxon, who also doubles as McIlroy’s putting coach.

It should give McIlroy a boost of confidence heading into the final major of the year at a course where McIlroy won in 2014. The last player to win the week prior to a major and then win one of golf’s four biggest prizes? It happens to be McIlroy, who claimed the 2014 WGC Bridgestone Invitational ahead of the 2014 PGA Championship, the last of McIlroy’s four career majors.

“It’s nice to have the validation,” McIlroy said. “it’s great racking up top 5s, top 10s, but it’s much nicer heading away with a trophy on Sunday afternoon.”

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Sunday’s forecast looks brutal for final round of 2023 Genesis Scottish Open

Buckle up.

The players have been pretty lucky so far this week at the Genesis Scottish Open. The wind hasn’t been overbearing, and the rain has been minimal. However, it looks like Sunday is going to be a different story.

The field at The Reinassance Club will face winds up to 40 mph during the final round, with the temperature hovering around 60 degrees. There’s also a chance of rain around 1 p.m. local time (8 a.m. ET), according to Windy.com.

As it stands now, Rory McIlroy (13 under) holds a one-shot lead over Tom Kim (12 under). They’ll be paired with Tommy Fleetwood in the final group.

The PGA Tour and DP World Tour adjusted tee times yet again for Sunday, with groups of three going off both No. 1 and No. 10.

Click here to find final round tee times.

Takeaways from the third round of the Genesis Scottish Open, where Rory McIlroy leads by 1

“Anything in red numbers tomorrow is going to be a helluva score.”

GULLANE, Scotland — Rory McIlroy is well aware he first played in the Scottish Open in 2005 at Loch Lomond. He has come close to winning the British Open, including last year at St. Andrews, and the Dunhill Cup in Scotland, but never hoisted a trophy in the ancestral home of golf.

“Eighteen years is too long for me not to pick up a trophy in this country,” he said.

He moved a step closer to checking that box on Saturday, shooting 3-under 67 at The Renaissance Club during the third round of the Genesis Scottish Open to take a one-stroke lead over Tom Kim going into the final round.

McIlroy improved to 13-under 197 as he bids for his 24th career PGA Tour victory, which would tie him with Gary Player and Dustin Johnson for 26th on the all-time PGA Tour wins list.

But that first win in Scotland won’t come easy. The weather is expected to turn nasty with winds whipping as much as 40-50 mph, forcing tournament organizers to move up tee times in hopes of getting some golf played before the heavy stuff arrives. McIlroy admittedly has never been a player recognized as a talented wind player.

“I’ve become better over the years,” he said. “I would say there was a time when I wasn’t, but I feel like I’m definitely better than I was.”

McIlroy, who has recorded top 10s in each of his last five starts, continued to drive the ball beautifully but failed to capitalize on numerous chances to break the tournament wide open, especially on the back nine when he could’ve padded his lead.

“Second straight ‘what-if’ round,” observed CBS’s Dottie Pepper.

Added CBS’s Trevor Immelman: “You get the feeling he should be leading by five or seven strokes.”

McIlroy conceded there were some wasted shots and opportunities, saying, “I feel like I’ve left a few out there over the last couple of days, but at the same time, at least the last few holes, it was quite tricky conditions.”

McIlroy said it would be hard to predict a winning score until he got a better sense of the weather conditions, but said, “Anything in red numbers tomorrow is going to be a helluva score.”

Sunday tee times, how to watch the 2023 Genesis Scottish Open

Here’s everything you need to know for the final round of the 2023 Genesis Scottish Open.

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After three rounds in North Berwick, Scotland, everyone is chasing Rory McIlroy.

He maintained his 36-hole lead at the 2023 Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club, shooting 3-under 67 on Saturday. At 13 under, McIlroy is one in front of Tom Kim and two ahead of Tommy Fleetwood and Brian Harman with 18 holes to play.

And Sunday should be exciting. Similar to Saturday, when tee times went off split tees between 2-4 a.m. ET, groups will head off early in the final round trying to avoid forecasted rain, yet winds are expected to blow 20-30 mph and could gust up to 40 mph.

Even with the earlier tee times, Sunday’s weather is expected to be the worst of the week, or the most Scottish Open weather of the week, depending on who you ask.

From tee times to TV and streaming info, here’s everything you need to know for the final round of the 2023 Genesis Scottish Open. All times listed are Eastern.

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1st tee

Tee time Players
1:45 a.m.
Nicolai Hojgaard, Gary Woodland
1:56 a.m.
Grant Forrest, Ewen Ferguson, Ben Martin
2:07 a.m.
Sean Crocker, Yannik Paul, Calum Hill
2:18 a.m.
Lee Hodges, Thomas Detry, Nick Taylor
2:29 a.m.
Sam Burns, Padraig Harrington, Maximilian Kieffer
2:40 a.m.
Rickie Fowler, Luke List, Thorbjorn Oleson
2:51 a.m.
Viktor Hovland, Davis Riley, Ryan Fox
3:02 a.m.
Xander Schauffele, Tyrrell Hatton, Sebastian Soderberg
3:13 a.m.
Joakim Lagergren, David Lingmerth, Robert MacIntyre
3:24 a.m.
Max Homa, Harry Hall, Tom Hoge
3:35 a.m.
Byeong Hun An, Scottie Scheffler, Shane Lowry
3:46 a.m.
J.T. Poston, Eric Cole, Brian Harman
3:57 a.m.
Tommy Fleetwood, Tom Kim, Rory McIlroy

10th tee

Tee time Player
1:45 a.m.
Ashun Wu, Ben Griffin, Jordan Smith
1:56 a.m.
Alexander Bjork, K.H. Lee, Will Gordon
2:07 a.m.
Wyndham Clark, Joost Luiten, Romain Langasque
2:18 a.m.
Tom McKibbin, Marcel Schnieder, Adri Arnaus
2:29 a.m.
Richie Ramsay, Dale Whitnell, Garrick Higgo
2:40 a.m.
Matt Wallace, Justin Thomas, Min Woo Lee
2:51 a.m.
Ben Taylor, Victor Perez, Daniel Hillier
3:02 a.m.
Jorge Campillo, Marcel Siem, Tapio Pulkkanen
3:13 a.m.
Julien Brun, Gavin Kyle Green, Antoine Rozner
3:24 a.m.
Billy Horschel, Andrew Putnam, Matthew Jordan
3:35 a.m.
Kurt Kitayama, Dan Bradbury, Corey Conners
3:46 a.m.
Erik van Rooyen, Lucas Herbert, Connor Syme

How to watch

You can watch Golf Channel for free on fuboTV. ESPN+ is the exclusive home for PGA Tour Live streaming. All times Eastern.

Sunday, July 16

TV

Golf Channel: 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
CBS: 12-3 p.m.

Radio

SiriusXM: 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

STREAM

ESPN+: 4:30 a.m.-3 p.m.
Peacock: 10 a.m.-12 p.m.

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Watch: Sam Burns gets no relief after gravity-defying bunker shot, expresses frustration post-round

Burns’ ball defied logic.

GULLANE, Scotland — Sam Burns would like a word with Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein to discuss gravity, the theory of relativity and just how in the world his golf ball managed to defy the law of physics, let alone logic, and stay in the revetted face of a nasty fairway bunker on the 10th hole during the third round of the 2023 Genesis Scottish Open.

“Never seen anything like it,” Burns told Golfweek after the round.

A wayward tee shot on the par-5 at The Renaissance Club caught the fairway bunker, and the 26-year-old American attempted to hit a wedge to safety but caught it a groove low and flew it into the steep lip of the bunker. Rather than embed in the sod, it came out of its pitch mark, but somehow didn’t roll back in the sand, hanging on by a thread.

Burns called for a ruling and a lengthy discussion ensued. Apparently, it embedded into new sod but since it wasn’t in a seam, relief wasn’t granted.

After the round, PGA Tour rules official Steve Rintoul, who had been one of two officials on the scene, spoke to Burns, who expressed his frustration, as they rehashed the situation for more than 10 minutes.

“In my opinion, I think it should’ve been relief,” Burns said, noting his disappointment that DP Tour chief referee Mark Litton made the final ruling over walkie talkie without being on the scene. “Just because there was some there that was different than anywhere else on the golf course.”

Brian Harman, one of the competitors in Burns’s threesome, agreed.

“Sam didn’t have footing to hit the shot. That top part should’ve been ground under repair. He got really unlucky.”

From an awkward stance, Burns took a hack with his gap wedge and couldn’t blast out of the bunker.

Scottish Open: Leaderboard | Photos

The worst of it was behind him, but when all was said and done, it added up to the dreaded snow man. The triple bogey dropped Burns, who began the day two strokes off the lead at 8 under, out of contention. He shot 71 and enters the final round T-18 and trailing by six strokes.

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