Robert McIntyre earned his PGA Tour membership for the 2024 season thanks to his stellar play on the DP World Tour a season ago, including a runner-up finish to Rory McIlroy at the Genesis Scottish Open.
But playing on the PGA Tour wasn’t the best experience For McIntyre, compared to the comfortable limits of the DP World Tour.
“Absolutely not,” McIntyre explained. bunker ringScottish Golf Publications.
“When I’m on the DP World Tour, I’m very friendly. We’re all in this together. We’re all traveling around the world. If I’m worried about something, I talk to the people around me. .”
McIntyre has only two top-10 finishes so far this season, although he is undefeated in his first Ryder Cup appearance in 2023. He tied for sixth at the Mexican Open and tied for eighth at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans.
However, he failed to qualify for The Players Championship and was unable to qualify for the Masters. Also, so far this season, he has not met the criteria to qualify for the signature event. Instead, he tied for 32nd at the Puerto Rico Open, which was held when Scottie Scheffler won at Bay Hill.
McIntyre will also be competing in the Myrtle Beach Classic this week instead of the 69-elite Wells Fargo Championship.
“When you come here on the PGA Tour, everything is so foreign,” McIntyre added.
“We chat less. We eat less dinner. There’s almost no sense of extended family on the European tour.”
European Ryder Cup teams especially pride themselves on team camaraderie and chemistry. In turn, these principles will extend to the DP World Tour as Europe’s top players rise through the ranks.
“When you sit down to the players’ meals and you’re doing it in Europe, all the Scottish boys and English boys come together,” McIntyre added.
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“A lot of Europeans, if you’re sitting alone, they’ll come and join you… [on the PGA Tour]Because you don’t know many people, you don’t know them in the same kind of depth, and they don’t come sit down with you. It’s a lonely place for golf. ”
The golf course is also clearly different.
“That’s the reality. We’ve got to keep doing it. There’s a lot more. New golf courses,” McIntyre explained.
“Here, they’re almost all new, but then you have different grasses coming up. Obviously, I didn’t grow up in Bermuda, a lot of grainy grass, a lot of pitching, putting. It’s not like that at all. No. But it’s a learning curve.”
Here’s hoping McIntyre’s golf experience in the U.S. improves over time. But for now, the Scotsman continues to struggle to adjust to the difficulties of American professional golf – as many European players have struggled in the past and will continue to do so.
But Scots know there are plenty of opportunities within the 50 states.
“It’s a great place to play golf. It’s obviously where the best players in the world are. You can make more money there,” McIntyre said.
“It’s a different environment for me, but I’m trying to have as much fun as possible and learn as much as I can each week.”
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through.Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.
