THERE’S no place like home, it seems. Ask Robert MacIntyre if he would ponder moving away from Oban now that he is a fully paid up member of the European Tour and you’ll be greeted with a firm response. “No, never, never, no chance,” said the 22-year-old with the kind of passion for his ain gate en’ that remains as sturdy as McCaig’s Tower.

There will be one significant change to his travel arrangements, though. “I need to get my own car and take the burden off my mum and dad,” he added. “Once I get my car I can just say, ‘mum, get my bed made, I’m coming home’. MacIntyre won’t be seeing much of that home in the next few weeks.

Having graduated from the Challenge Tour, his 2019 season on the main circuit will get under way next week in Hong Kong, before events in Australia and South Africa ahead of Christmas. Perhaps there’s a shortcut there via Crianlarich? “The first three events will be brutal for travel,” he said. “I have family in Australia, though, and that’s almost like a comfort, having people there. Being on tour can be a lonely place at times.”

With his three fellow Scottish graduates – David Law, Liam Johnston and Grant Forrest – for company, MacIntyre won’t have to look far for a familiar face. Getting to tee-up alongside some of the game’s most well-kent faces, meanwhile, will confirm his ascendancy to the big stage. “It will sink in next week but it will really sink if I get drawn with someone big,” he said of the potential for a mouth-watering pairing depending on results. “The likes of Tommy Fleetwood and Patrick Reed are both playing next week. You never know, I might play well and get in amongst it. That’s when you will realise you are on the tour and on it on merit.”

MacIntyre’s progress has been so rapid, he’s just about left scorch marks on the A85. In his first full year as a professional on the Challenge Tour, a pair of secondplace finishes – both came from playoff defeats in Finland and in China – helped propel him towards a place on the grid for the 2019 Race to Dubai. “The first year on the Challenge Tour was going to be a year of learning and securing my playing rights on it,” he said. “Once I achieved that, though, there was a sense of relief and it gave me the confidence to know that I could go out and shoot for the stars and go for that European Tour card. The strong finish in Finland (his first runners-up finish) showed me that I could win out here.”

MacIntyre, who was a winner on the third-tier MENA Tour in just his second event as a pro, has taken to the paid ranks like the proverbial duck to the wet stuff and his year or so at the coalface has been an eye-opening experience. “It’s been pretty smooth but I appreciate how cut-throat it is,” admitted the former Scottish Amateur champion and Walker Cup player. “For example, I was sitting one weekend waiting to see if I’d get into the Rolex Trophy. “I had missed the cut in Ireland and it was out of my hands. I needed results to go my way and it ended up going down to the last hole. I realised you can’t rely on other guys, you have to do it yourself. Only you can get the job done.”

MacIntyre may be a lefty golfer but he is naturally right-handed and his days battering away on the shinty field fostered those ambidextrous qualities. Now that he’s got big fish to fry on the golfing tour, the camans won’t be getting unleashed any time soon. “The last game of shinty I had was up in Kingussie when I was 17,” recalled MacIntyre, who was speaking at Stirling Golf Club yesterday along with his new Bounce management stablemates, Johnston and Forrest. “I still get the urge to have a game, mind you. When I go home I just want to play but I can’t now. “I still have the sticks in the house. But if I want a hit I’ll stick to hitting in the garden.”