Robert MacIntyre showing discipline at The Open 2026, where 'it was very much just golf'

SOUTHPORT, England — It’s coming home? We’d better whisper that one after a certain World Cup result the other night.

For the Scots, the sight of Robert MacIntyre in the upper reaches of the leaderboard on day one of the 154th Open was just about as easy on the eye as an injury-time winner from Argentina. To my readers from the other side of Hadrian’s auld fence, I’m only joking.

MacIntyre’s canny 3-under 67 over the sun-seared Royal Birkdale links was a purposeful statement of intent as he made a sprightly start to his bid to become the first Scotsman to land the Claret Jug since Paul Lawrie got his paws on it back in 1999.

It was, by and large, a polished display of poise, precision and patience. “I felt like it was almost a perfect round of golf,” said MacIntyre.

Pesky pests, meanwhile, were dealt with swiftly. Before MacIntyre had even teed off, one of those humming camera drones flying above him had to be politely told to you-know-what. The gizmo just about fell foul of the R&A’s new code of conduct.

“I could hear it coming in, and I'm like, ‘please just keep flipping over the top of me', but it just sat above me,” said MacIntyre of this birling, twirling technological nuisance.

“Then they announced me on the tee, and I said, ‘I'm not hitting until that drone is out of the way'. I don't know who spoke to it, but someone did. I knew from the practice days this was going to be a real test of my patience, a real test of my mind, and I thought I did a great job.”

The job was a good ‘un. From the off, MacIntyre, who shared third in last week’s Genesis Scottish Open, was quickly into his stride. A mighty birdie putt of some 45-feet on the first was a rousing opening salvo.

His putter didn’t have to do much on the second, mind you. He knocked his approach to within a foot and tapped it in for another birdie.

MacIntyre leaked his only shot of the day on the eighth but a brace of birdies coming home, which included another raking putt of 40-feet on 12th, a good par save on 15 and a tidy up-and-down to salvage par on the 18th put the tin lid on a good morning at the office.

The Oban man certainly enjoyed parrying and jousting with a menacing foe. “I think I showed great discipline and I was very, very cautious off the tee,” added MacIntyre, who has three top-10 finishes on his Open since a debut outing in 2019. “I enjoy it when I've got a fight. I'm not just fighting the golf course, I'm fighting myself, I'm fighting with Mike (his caddie).

“It's a grind. It's one of the hardest links courses I've ever played just with the positions of the pot bunkers on certain holes.

“My game plan is to just hit it short of the bunkers on the left, challenge it on the right, and then get it around the green in two and just scramble.”

It was a sound strategy that paid off. Those following him for the sidelines enjoyed it too.

“The Open crowd is the best every time,” said MacIntyre with a smile. “One of the best things was I didn't hear one shout off the tee box of ‘get in the hole’ or all the daft shouts that you get (in the U.S.). It was very much just golf and people enjoying golf.”

As MacIntyre made an early mark, his fellow Scot, Jack McDonald, also enjoyed a good day in the Southport sunshine as he posted a solid level-par 70.

The 33-year-old got himself in the rarefied air of the top five of the leaderboard for a spell when he birdied three of his opening five holes. Heady days indeed.

What the golfing gods giveth, they taketh away, though. The old rascals. McDonald was still three-under after 10 but he caught a wedge a bit thin trying to come out of the bunker on the 11th, his ball stayed in the sand and he ended up with a double-bogey.

“That’s golf for you,” he said with a wry smile

Another spilled shot on 14 dropped him back to level-par. It was still a good effort from the Whitecraigs PGA trainee, though.

“I did play well,” added McDonald. "And I stuck to my game plan. I was hitting driver a lot and trying to do something. That was just the way I was wanting to do it.

“I think you can tackle it one of two ways. You can be quite defensive, or you can attack it. You just need to accept if you get out of position, then you're fighting.”

The fight will go on in round two. MacIntyre and McDonald look up for it too.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Robert MacIntyre showing discipline at The Open 2026, where 'it was very much just golf'