Why Bob MacIntyre has not been nominated for PGA Tour Rookie of the Year honours

Confused as to why Bob MacIntyre has not been named as one of five nominations for 2024 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year honours, even though he won twice in his first full season on the PGA Tour? 

Well there is one very good reason. 

He is not actually eligible for the award. 

Despite earning his first full PGA Tour card for 2024 when securing one of the 10 cards available through the DP World Tour last season, the Scot had already surpassed his rookie status having made a number of appearances on the circuit since 2020. 

Once a player has competed in more than seven events during a PGA Tour season, they shed their rookie tag for the following season. 

MacIntyre participated in 13 events during the 2020/21 PGA Tour season.

He made the cut 11 times throughout that campaign and finished in the top 25 four times. 

MacIntyre then played in eight tournaments on the PGA Tour during the 2021/22 season.

He made six cuts that season and notched two top-25 finishes. 

MacIntyre played in just three events on the PGA Tour during the 2022/23 season, making the cut twice and finishing once in the top 25. 

The Scot decided to spend the majority of last season fighting to earn one of the 10 full-time PGA Tour cards available through the DP World Tour standings, something he went on to achieve when finishing seventh on the list. 

His performance on the DP World Tour last season also saw him earn a debut in Luke Donald's 2023 European Ryder Cup side after narrowly coming through the European Points List. 

MacIntyre then performed admirably at the Ryder Cup last September, taking 2.5 points from a possible three as Team Europe ran out five-point victors in Rome.

Fast forward nearly 12 months, and MacIntyre has taken his game to new heights by registering not one but two PGA Tour titles. 

His first PGA Tour win came at the RBC Canadian Open in June. 

It was an emotional victory, especially with his dad Dougie on the bag for him.

MacIntyre then brought the house down when capturing the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club in July. 

Those two PGA Tour wins were enough to see MacIntyre through to the 30-man Tour Championship at East Lake last week.

MacIntyre went on to finish T17. 

In total, MacIntyre has played in 25 tournaments on the PGA Tour this season. 

He has amassed $7.8m in prize money on the PGA Tour in 2024. 

So all of the above explains why MacIntyre is ineligible for PGA Tour Rookie of the Year honours in 2024. 

MacIntyre, 28, will now turn his attention to competing in a number of DP World Tour events to close out his 2024 season. 

He will be in action at next week's Irish Open at Royal County Down, the following week's flagship BMW PGA at Wentworth and then the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship with his father Dougie at St Andrews in early October. 

The PGA Tour recently confirmed the following five players have been nominated for the coveted PGA Tour Rookie of the Year award: 

• Matthieu Pavon
• Nick Dunlap
• Jake Knapp
• Alejandro Tosti
• Michael Thorbjornsen

It looks like a straight shootout between Pavon and Dunlap.

Pavon won his first PGA Tour title at the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this season before finishing T17 in the FedEx Cup race, while Dunlap became the first player in PGA Tour history to win as an amateur (American Express) and a professional (Barracuda Championship) in one season.

The 2024 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year will be announced either later this season or in early 2025 at The Sentry in Hawaii, which is when Eric Cole was crowned the victor for 2023. 

The PGA Tour Rookie of the Year award has been won by a number of the game's greats through the years, none bigger than Tiger Woods in 1996.

Other major champions such as John Daly (1991), Vijay Singh (1993), Ernie Els (1994), Xander Schauffele (2017) and Scottie Scheffler (2020) have also etched their name on the trophy. 

Mark Carnevale, who won PGA Tour Rookie of the Year in 1992, sadly passed away in July this year. 

The PGA Tour Rookie of the Year was first introduced in 1990.

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