{"id":46612,"date":"2026-08-05T09:57:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T09:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/46612\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T09:57:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T09:57:17","slug":"robert-macintyre-makes-complaint-about-royal-birkdale-during-first-round-at-the-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/46612\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert MacIntyre makes complaint about Royal Birkdale during first round at The Open"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>   <a class=\"fw\" href=\"https:\/\/profile.google.com\/cp\/Cg0vZy8xMWcxajNfc2h3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"28\" height=\"28\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hitc.com\/wp-content\/themes\/grv-media\/img\/google-discover.svg\" alt=\"\"\/> Follow us on Google Discover <\/a>  <\/p>\n<p>Robert MacIntyre enjoyed a hot start to his Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. <\/p>\n<p>He opened his account with a three-under 67, putting him among the leading pack after his first round.<\/p>\n<p>The Scot is trending nicely, having put himself in contention at last week\u2019s Scottish Open, and now he eyes the Claret Jug to become Scotland\u2019s first major winner since Paul Lawrie won The Open at Carnoustie in 1999. <\/p>\n<p>But despite his solid showing, MacIntyre wasn\u2019t entirely happy with Royal Birkdale, the host of this year\u2019s Open. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2286352849-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Robert MacIntyre of Scotland tees off on the 18th hole on day one of the The 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale\" class=\"wp-image-2593835\" \/>Photo by Michael Reaves\/Getty ImagesRobert MacIntyre complains about Royal Birkdale\u2019s 18th hole<\/p>\n<p>MacIntyre posted a score of 67, but that looked in serious doubt after his approach shot on the 18th. <\/p>\n<p>He fired his second shot into the stands around the 18th green, before proclaiming, \u201cSuch a s\u2013t golf hole innit?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was hardly the hole\u2019s fault that MacIntyre wildly missed the green, and he\u2019s getting into the habit of making complaints about major championship venues this year. <\/p>\n<p>He flipped the middle finger at Augusta National on his way to a missed cut at the Open earlier in the season. <\/p>\n<p>Luckily for MacIntyre, he got a good break with a bounce off the stands and got it up and down for par. <\/p>\n<p>Jordan Spieth disagrees with Robert MacIntyre\u2019s complaint about Birkdale\u2019s 18th hole<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019d think that Jordan Spieth, who won The Open last time it was played at Royal Birkdale in 2017, wouldn\u2019t want to see any changes made to the golf course. <\/p>\n<p>But speaking before the tournament began, the three-time major winner said he was a fan of the alterations that have been made to Birkdale ahead of The Open. <\/p>\n<p>In particular, he said that moving the 18th tee box back by 35 yards improved the hole. Speaking to SiriusXM Radio, Spieth said, \u201c18th being back 35 yards and almost nowhere to hit the golf ball. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can hit a really nice shot and have to punch out there, so putting a driver in your hand on 18 rather than being able to hit a three-iron, mid-iron, it\u2019s a huge change for the closing hole where you very well could see two-shot swings this year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tough doesn\u2019t necessarily mean bad, and Spieth seems to understand that better than MacIntyre in this case.<\/p>\n<p>Join Our Newsletter<\/p>\n<p>Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow us on Google Discover Robert MacIntyre enjoyed a hot start to his Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46613,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[1562,519,6197],"class_list":["post-46612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-robert-macintyre","tag-robert-macintyre","tag-royal-birkdale","tag-the-open"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}