Sports

MacIntyre calls for Carnoustie and Muirfield Open return

Calum BrodiePublished 4d ago2 min readBased on 7 sources
MacIntyre calls for Carnoustie and Muirfield Open return
Photo by Macieklew / CC BY-SA 4.0

Robert MacIntyre wants The Open back at Carnoustie and Muirfield on a regular basis.

Scotland's leading player made the call as he returned to St Andrews to defend the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, the title he won last year to become the first Scot in 20 years to lift it BBC. He wants that to change. He said a steadier run of Opens in Scotland would be a major boost for the game in the country.

The Open, golf's oldest major championship, rotates between seaside links courses around the UK. Carnoustie last staged it in 2018, when Italy's Francesco Molinari won. Muirfield last hosted in 2013. Turnberry, the other Scottish venue on the rota, last hosted in 2009 bunkered. St Andrews, the sport's historic home in Fife, is scheduled to host next year's Championship BBC.

MacIntyre knows what a home crowd can do. He won the Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club in East Lothian in 2024. That is the country's national open, played the week before The Open, and winning it made him the focal point for Scottish fans through the summer.

He spoke during a busy stretch of the season. MacIntyre is currently outside the qualifying places for the DP World Tour's end-of-season events in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Those finals are reserved for the leading players on the season-long points list, so only strong finishes in the closing tournaments will get him in.

He brings recent team experience with him. MacIntyre has played in the last two Ryder Cups, the men's team contest between Europe and the United States played every two years. The next edition is scheduled for Adare Manor in Ireland in 2027.

For fans, this means a familiar argument in a new voice. Scotland invented much of the game, yet its famous links have waited years between Opens. MacIntyre learned his golf on wind-blown courses on the west coast, where the wind decides the shot first and the leaderboard comes later. Carnoustie and Muirfield reward that kind of play, with firm fairways, deep bunkers and greens that punish a loose approach.

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