Bob MacIntyre's $2.3m US Open pay day plus huge Ryder Cup boost
Scot’s second-place finish at Oakmont takes PGA Tour career earnings to close to $13m
Bob MacIntyre had lots of reasons to be pleased with himself at the end of the 125th US Open despite being pipped for the second time in his career by a brilliant birdie-birdie finish.
As had been the case when he was denied by Rory McIlroy in the 2023 Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club, the Oban man had to settle for second place at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania after American J.J. Spaun came up with something special at the last two holes.
It was a classy reaction from MacIntyre, who was watching on TV to see if he’d done enough to perhaps get into a play-off, as he applauded after Spaun had clinched victory by holing a monster birdie putt on the 72nd green.
Though it wasn’t to be for the Scot on this occasion, he headed away from the season’s third major with a huge spring in his step for a variety of reasons.
For starters, he picked up a cheque for a whopping $2.322 million - the biggest prize of his career - to take his season’s earnings alone on the PGA Tour to just under $5 million. In just 70 events on the US circuit, he’s now won $12.865 million.
In addition, his performance in Pittsburgh lifted him from 46th to 17th in the FedEx Cup Standings, meaning he’s on course for the season-ending Tour Championship for the second year in a row.
He’s also up to a career-best 12th, having climbed eight spots in the Official World Golf Ranking, and another strong performance in this week’s Travelers Championship in Connecticut could see him defend his Genesis Scottish Open title next month as a top-ten player for the first time.
On top of all that, MacIntyre has also handed himself a massive boost in his bid to be on Luke Donald’s side for Europe’s Ryder Cup defence at Bethpage Black in New York in September.
On the back of a good run of form in recent weeks, he’d climbed into the top 12 in the points table and now’s he up to fourth behind Rory McIlroy, Tyrrell Hatton and Shane Lowry.
Scot now in automatic Ryder Cup spot for Bethpage Black
The top six will secure automatic spots and that will be his target again after making the team for the 2023 match in Rome, though the left-hander has a much better chance this time around of earning a captain’s pick if that was required.
Sepp Straka and Rasmus Hojgaard are the other players currently in the automatic berths, with Tommy Fleetwood and Ludvig Aberg next on the list.
On the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai, meanwhile, MacIntyre has jumped more than 100 spots to seventh and will now have his sights set on beating his previous best of ninth on that particular points list.
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