Bob MacIntyre admits he is considering an ‘all in’ switch to America to chase his next set of golfing goals.
The 27-year-old has spoken openly about what lies ahead for him as he looks to build on his Ryder Cup debut and become one of the world’s elite players.
A tie for 26th in the Estrella Damm Andalucia Masters has set him up for a strong run in, with tournaments in Qatar and South Africa before the season-ending event in Dubai next month.
Apart from a sizzling outward nine during his third round, it was mainly three rounds of steady golf in Spain, peppered with the odd birdie and bogey.
Bob never really looked like threatening to get in the mix near the business end of the tournament, which was won by one of the men he pipped to a Ryder Cup spot, Adrian Meronk.
Meronk picked up his third win of the season after he defeated Matthias Schmid by one stroke at the Real Club de Sotogrande in Spain.
MacIntyre, however, is already looking beyond this season and deciding how best to chart the course which will take his game to the next level.
He knows big changes to his life could be required to join that band of players who are regularly considered the favourites for the Majors, and basing himself in America and focusing on the star-studded US PGA Tour is one of the options that could be open to the Glencruitten man.
Asked if it would need to be a case of being all in if he decides to set up a base in the States, Bob admitted: “ One hundred per cent. I won’t do a half-measure job. If I’m going to do this, there’s going to be results coming on the back of it and it’s going to be all in. I’ve spoken to a lot of guys and it’s difficult to commute across the Atlantic.
“I can play on the PGA Tour and do that from home. But the PGA Tour is not my peak, not where I want to finish. If I’m going to go and give it my best shot it will be to try to win major championships.
“Just now I feel I can win one major living where I live, and that’s The Open. If the conditions hit, then I’m used to it.”
He added: “It’s just working out where’s best to go. Realistically, it is not about me, it’s about my family. Where’s best for them to get to as quickly as possible? Because I struggle to be away on my own for a long period of time. That’s why I went back to play shinty. I struggled at the start of my career. I had made something like 15 cuts from 17 events but I was still, like, ‘I’ve had enough of this’. It’s just about finding the right place, the right area for me.
“What’s more important, work or life? That’s the way I see it and my life is more important than work. I’m a realist and if the pinnacle of my golfing career was the Ryder Cup then so what, it’s a great journey. I know in my head that that’s not the pinnacle, it’s not the peak where I want to finish. But I don’t know if I’m willing to sacrifice everything for golf.”