Native son McIntyre wins Scottish Open crown

Robert MacIntyre birdied the final hole to win his home country’s tournament, shooting 3-under-par 67 yesterday in the Scottish Open at North Berwick.MacIntyre, who was clearly a crowd favourite at The Renaissance Club, finished at 18-under 262. That gave him a one-shot victory over Australia’s Adam Scott, who also posted 67 and finished earlier with a two-shot lead.MacIntyre, who won last month’s Canadian Open, had time to catch up. He used an eagle on the par-5 No. 16 to make a move and then finished it on No. 18. Scott was bidding for his first victory since the Genesis Invitational in February 2020. Scott, who turns 44 tomorrow, had only one top-10 finish in his first 14 PGA Tour outings this year - and that came by tying for eighth place in February at the Phoenix Open.The Scottish Open is the first of two tournaments co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour and European Tour. France’s Romain Langasque (64) was third at 15 under.Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg, the third-round leader, slumped to 73 and shared fourth place at 14 under. Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy (68), the 2023 champion, and England’s Aaron Rai (63), with the fourth-best score in the final round, finished at 14 under.Also in the fourth-place mix were Collin Morikawa (69), Sahith Theegala (69) and South Korea’s Sunjae Im (69).Even with two bogeys and a double-bogey, Scott looked to be in solid position. He notched birdies on three of the five par-3s in the final round. England’s Richard Mansell turned in 61 yesterday, rising to a tie for 10th at 13 under. He had a bogey at No. 2, then ripped off 10 birdies the rest of the way. He recorded 29 on the backside.Four others - Wyndham Clark (62), Sweden’s Alex Noren (65), France’s Victor Perez (65) and Canada’s Corey Conners (67) - also finished in that logjam at 13 under.