Robert MacIntyre has awkward Masters exit after a middle-finger moment, missed cut and no interviews

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Robert MacIntyre made no public apologies for his fiery behavior at the Masters this week, breezing past reporters after his first-round 80 and then declining interview requests after a 71 on Friday that caused him to miss the cut.

The 29-year-old MacIntyre, who tied for second last week at the Texas Open, raised some eyebrows Thursday at Augusta National — where decorum is held in high esteem — when he flashed the middle finger upon hitting a ball into the water. MacIntyre also slammed a couple of clubs and muttered some curse words loud enough to be caught live by the TV mics.

It was unclear whether Augusta National took any disciplinary action.

MacIntyre finished at 7 over, missing the cut by three shots, and headed straight to the Player Services Building. At one point, someone posted to his Instagram story what appeared to be an AI-produced image of a Masters gnome in his likeness giving the bird.

Whoever it was had a sense of humor about things.

Bryson DeChambeau probably didn't find anything funny about his finish.

He was 3 over coming to the par-4 18th before hitting his drive under a pine tree. He managed to punch his next into a bunker left of the green but left the ensuing shot in the sand. His fourth rolled off the front of the green, and the bogey pitch that DeChambeau needed to make the cut never had a chance; the two-time U.S. Open champ made triple bogey and finished at 6 over.

It was a grind for many of the game's best players to make the low 50 and ties and play the weekend.

Brian Harman was a full 10 shots better than his opening round on Friday, pairing a 69 with that 79 to make the cut on the number. Rasmus Hojgaard and Jon Rahm each improved by eight shots with rounds of 70 to also make the cut on the number.

Rahm, the 2023 Masters champion, was among the favorites before his opening 78.

“Yesterday was just an anomaly where everything that could go wrong went wrong,” Rahm said. “Not that I shot myself out of the tournament but I’m going to need an absolute miracle starting today, and didn’t quite do enough. I’m going to need a heck of a round tomorrow to give myself a chance and even then, might be a little too far away.”

Or a lot too far away. Rory McIlroy finished at 12 under after rounds of 67-65, giving the defending champion a six-shot lead over his closest pursuers, Sam Burns and Patrick Reed. That set a 36-hole record for the largest lead at the Masters.

JJ Spaun, the U.S. Open champion and the winner last week in San Antonio, opened with a 2-over 74 but put himself in trouble right away with three bogeys in a four-hole span early Friday. Not even two birdies in his last three holes could save him. He finished at 5 over.

Former British Open champ Cameron Smith shot 74-77 to miss the cut for the sixth straight time in a major.

Nobody had a bigger roller coaster around the cut line than Akshay Bhatia.

Playing late in the day, the winner of the Arnold Palmer Invitational was at 4 over before his bogey at the 16th. Bhatia got back on the cut line by holing out from a bunker at the 17th, then proceeded to double bogey the closing hole to miss the cut.

None of the six amateurs made the cut, including U.S. Amateur champion Mason Howell, who spent the two days playing with McIlroy. Jackson Herrington, whom Howell defeated in the finals last year, and British Amateur champion Ethan Fang fared the best among the amateurs, each finishing at 8-over par.

“Maybe if I'm allowed to come out and practice, I'll be out here tomorrow,” Herrington said. “It's the best place on Earth. I know that.”

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Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, waits to play on the 16th hole during the second round of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Friday, April 10, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Rasmus Hojgaard, of Denmark, watches his tee shot on the 11th hole during the first round of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Thursday, April 9, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Jon Rahm, of Spain, reacts after missing a putt on the 13th hole during the second round of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Friday, April 10, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Bryson DeChambeau hits his tee shot on the 16th hole during the second round of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Friday, April 10, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Robert MacIntyre, of Scotland, hits from the bunker on the second hole during the second round of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Friday, April 10, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Thousands of people rallied Saturday in the cradle of the modern Civil Rights Movement to mobilize a new voting rights era as conservative states dismantle congressional districts that helped secure Black political representation.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey called Montgomery “sacred soil” in the fight for civil rights.

“if we in our generation do not now do our duty, we will lose the gains and the rights and the liberties that our ancestors afforded us,” Booker said.

The crowd was led in chants of “we won’t go back” and “we fight.”

“We are not going down without a fight. We are not going down to Jim Crow maps,” Shalela Dowdy, a plaintiff in the Alabama redistricting case said.

A crowd of thousands gathered in front of the city’s historic Alabama Capitol, the place where the Confederacy was formed in 1861 and where the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke in 1965 at the end of the Selma-to-Montgomery Voting Rights March. The stage, set in front of the Capitol, was flanked from behind by statues of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and civil rights icon Rosa Parks — dueling tributes erected nearly 90 years apart.

Speakers said the spot was once the temple of the confederacy and became holy ground of the civil rights movement.

Some in the crowd said the effort to redraw lines has echoes of the past.

“We lived through the “60s. It takes you back. When you think that Alabama’s moving forward, it takes two steps back,” said Camellia A Hooks, 70, of Montgomery, Alabama.

The rally began in Selma, where a violent clash between law enforcement and voting rights activists in 1965 galvanized support for passage of the Voting Rights Act. It then moved to the state Capitol, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “How Long, Not Long” speech that same year.

A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling involving Louisiana hollowed out voting rights law that was already weakened by a separate decision in 2013 and then narrowed further over the years. That helped clear the way for stricter voter ID laws, registration restrictions, and limits on early voting and polling place changes, including in states that once needed federal preclearance before they could change voting laws because of their historical discrimination against Black voters.

Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement are alarmed by the speed of the rollbacks, noting that protections won through generations of sacrifice have been weakened in little more than a decade.

Kirk Carrington, 75, was a teen in 1965 when law enforcement officers attacked marchers in Selma on what became known as “Bloody Sunday.” A white man on a horse wielding a stick chased Carrington through the streets.

“It’s really just appalling to me and all the young people that marched during the ’60s, fought hard to get voting rights, equal rights and civil rights,” Carrington said. “It’s sad that it’s continuing after 60-plus-odd years that we are still fighting for the same thing we fought for back then.”

Montgomery is home to one of the congressional districts that is being altered in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling.

A federal court in 2023 redrew Alabama's 2nd Congressional District after ruling that the state intentionally diluted the voting power of Black residents, who make up about 27% of its population. The court said there should be a district where Black people are a majority or near-majority and have an opportunity to elect their candidate of choice.

But the Supreme Court cleared the way for a different map that could let the GOP reclaim the seat. While the matter remains under litigation, the state plans special primaries Aug. 11 under the new map.

Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures, who won election in the district in 2024, said the dispute is not about him but rather people's opportunity to have representation.

“When Republicans are literally turning back the clock on what representation, what the faces of representation, look like, what the opportunities, legitimate opportunities for representation look like across this country, then I think it starts to resonate with people in a little bit of a different way,” Figures said.

Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, a Republican, said the Louisiana ruling provided an opportunity to revisit a map that was forced on the state by the federal court.

“People tend to forget what happened. When this thing went to court, the Republican Party had that seat, congressional seat two,” Ledbetter said last week. “There’s been a push through the courts to try to overtake some of these red state seats, and that’s certainly what happened in that one.”

Evan Milligan, the lead plaintiff in the Alabama redistricting case, said there is grief over the implosion of the Voting Rights Act but it is crucial that people recommit to the fight.

“We have to accept that this is the new reality, whether we like it or not,” Milligan said. “We don’t have to accept that this will be the reality for the next 10 years or two years or forever.”

The State capitol is seen during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

A protestor holds a sign of the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

A man sings a spirtual song during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

A protestor holds a sign of the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

U.S. Sen Corey Booker, D-NY., has his photo taken during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

People gather during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

U.S. Sen Corey Booker, D-NY., has his photo taken during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Aaron McGuire sings a spirtual song during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)