Robert MacIntyre is still enjoying la dolce vita. Even if it was tipping it down in St Andrews. The bracing conditions in the Auld Grey Toun were slightly different from the blue sky and baking temperatures that the Ryder Cup enjoyed in Rome last week.
After a prolonged knees-up to celebrate Europe’s victory, though, the sobering Scottish weather was probably just what was needed to sharpen the senses and clear the head.
“The weather is fresh but I'm not the freshest,” said MacIntyre with a smile. With the Team Europe merriment roaring on through Sunday night – “I bailed at 3am I think,” – MacIntyre flew back to Glasgow on a budget flight from the Italian capital on Monday morning for another round of tipples and toasts with friends and family in Oban. The sweet life indeed.
“It's been incredible, from the bus journey from the course to the team room to the celebrations and then getting home,” said MacIntyre of the social whirlwind that was sparked by Europe’s 16 ½ - 11 ½ win over the USA at the Marco Simone club.
It’s back to business this week in the money-soaked Pro-Am contest around the Old Course, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns which boasts a whopping purse of $5 million. That’s roughly the same amount as the bar bill came to in the jubilant European team room. Possibly.
“I don't know what this week is going to bring but my energy levels are actually relatively high,” admitted MacIntyre, who is joined in the field by his Ryder Cup team-mates, Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick. “I just need to find the motivation now.”
After such a giddy high at the Ryder Cup – MacIntyre was undefeated in three matches as a rookie – there was always going to be an after the Lord Mayor’s Show feel about this week’s latest stop on the DP World Tour.
The fairly genteel atmosphere and the laid-back Pro-Am format of the Dunhill Links will suit MacIntyre down to a tee. The Ryder Cup, after all, can be as hair-raisingly intense as having a lion roar in your face for three days solid.
“This week is about trying to win the Dunhill Links,” said MacIntyre, who will have to overcome a strained relationship with the Old Course if he is to knock that off. “It's business as usual for when I come to a golf tournament. I know my golf has been up-and-down for the last wee while but there's been a lot of stress going on in the background with the Ryder Cup and getting on that team. Now I feel like I can just cruise around and play aggressive golf.”
Currently sitting 10th on the DP World Tour’s rankings, MacIntyre is on course to nab one of the career-changing cards for the promised land of the PGA Tour next season.
Never one to get too far ahead of himself, though, MacIntyre will cross that bridge when he comes to it. For a man who never likes to be away from the auld haunts of his Oban home for too long, the prospect of full-time competition in the USA comes with a lot to mull over.
“It would be (a goal),” he said of earning a place on the toughest tour in the world. “But I'm just trying to put it to the back of my mind. I actually had the conversation with my mum yesterday about it because she was saying, ‘what's your strategy now?’
“But it's a lot. I mean, I enjoy family time. I enjoy home life. I don't know whether that (the PGA Tour) is the be-all end-all. I need to weigh it all up with the team around me.”
Whatever the future holds, MacIntyre will always have the Ryder Cup of 2023. “The highlight was just getting into that team room with the Ryder Cup trophy, when it was just the team and the captain, no cameras, nothing,” he said. “We just had a bit of time together, embraced everyone and realised what we had achieved. It’s something that I'll never, ever forget.”
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