Robert MacIntyre has made a career of channeling emotion into performance—Scottish Open triumphs, Ryder Cup heroics. At Waialae, the same intensity turned inward. The Scotsman fired a final-round 63 at the 2026 Sony Open, his best round of the week by a considerable margin. Wedge play was “superb.” Approach shots found their marks. The putter rolled true. But the number only sharpened the sting of what might have been.

“My attitude cost me this golf tournament,” MacIntyre admitted afterward. The damage came on Friday, on the 17th hole. MacIntyre snapped his putter in frustration. Under Rule 4.1a, a club broken in anger cannot be replaced mid-round. He finished the day putting with a substitute club—and missed a three-footer on 18.

The backup putter arrived Saturday. Identical specs. But trust operates on frequencies that mechanics cannot measure. MacIntyre described feeling “rusty” through the first two days, routes off, rhythm fractured. The iron play that usually bends to his will felt foreign. The putting stroke that had carried him through a breakout 2025 stuttered under the weight of Friday’s frustration.

By Sunday, the mental baggage had lifted. He hit 17 of 18 greens on Saturday. He shaped irons into the wind on Sunday. The 63 proved his game was ready all along. His head simply wasn’t.

“Attitude has got to be right for 72 holes, not just 36,” he said. “You’ve got to be in the right position at the right time to allow a round like today to finish off.”

MacIntyre tied for sixth at 10-under par. Nick Taylor, the defending champion, claimed the title. The margin between MacIntyre and contention? A single stroke squandered on Friday’s 18th green—a stroke that never needed to be lost.

The incident punctuates a career defined by emotional volatility as both fuel and liability. In 2025, MacIntyre recorded six top-10 finishes, including runner-up results at the U.S. Open and BMW Championship, earning over $10 million combined. He won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, starred in Europe’s Ryder Cup victory at Bethpage Black, and climbed inside the world’s top 10. The talent has never been in question. The temperament remains under construction.

Waialae, as it happens, was precisely the wrong place to lose control.

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Why Waialae magnified Robert MacIntyre’s self-inflicted wound

Waialae Country Club does not punish aggression with length. It punishes it with exposure. At 7,044 yards, the course ranks among the PGA Tour’s shortest. Thin fairways, small greens, and 83 strategically placed bunkers reward precision over power. The wind, not the yardage, serves as the primary test.

Blow-up rounds occur when patience lapses. Winning scores hover around 19-under because the course yields to composure and compounds against chaos. MacIntyre’s Friday outburst—snapping his putter with two holes remaining—handed Waialae exactly the mental fracture it exploits.

The 63 on Sunday demonstrated what controlled MacIntyre looks like. The form was elite. The damage, however, had already calcified two days earlier.

“Big, big reminder for me,” MacIntyre said. “Can’t be allowing that.”

Passion has fueled his ascent—the birdie on 18 to win the Scottish Open, the fight against American hecklers at the BMW Championship, the emotion that pours out after every significant putt. But passion without discipline drains as much as it delivers. At Waialae, MacIntyre learned the cost of red mist the hard way: a broken putter, a missed three-footer, and a final-round 63 that arrived one moment too late.