Those of you who have embraced social media – and I appreciate I may have lost some of you already – perhaps noticed a little online status update from Robert MacIntyre in the wake of his sturdy showing in the PGA Tour’s Myrtle Beach Classic at the weekend.

Following a share of 13th place – he led after round one and was just a shot off the lead at the halfway stage – the Oban lefty put out a simple message saying ‘moving in the right direction’ accompanied by a couple of emojis of some jigsaw pieces.

Presumably, they were to illustrate the ongoing, work in progress that is the endlessly flummoxing puzzle known as golf. Either that, or he was actually doing a jigsaw, he’s just got a few pieces left to fit in and we’ve all been reading far too much into his statement?

This move in the right direction for MacIntyre on the golf course was a nice tune-up for this week’s US PGA Championship at Valhalla. This will be the second men’s major of the season, but it will be the 27-year-old’s first of 2024.

As usual when it comes to the preparation for these showpiece occasions, the wider MacIntyre clan has been mobilised to aid the war effort. “Mum is flying out, the chef and the washer,” chuckled MacIntyre, who is currently basing himself in Florida as he looks to establish a foothold on the PGA Tour.

“We’ve got the whole team out and that’s been our blueprint for all the majors. We’ve not mastered it but we’re just tweaking it as we go along.”

That blueprint has served him pretty well in recent seasons. MacIntyre made the cut in the first 10 majors he contested, since a debut in The Open at Portrush back in 2019. An early exit from last year’s US PGA was the first time he had not been around at the weekend in these grand slam events.

This year, MacIntyre heads into the PGA of America’s flagship championship as a paid up member of the PGA Tour. In this eye-opening rookie campaign, there have been many new, strange and challenging experiences to deal with, but MacIntyre is not intimidated by this latest test of his golfing fortitude.

“It's less daunting coming from the PGA Tour and playing the PGA Championship than it is coming from Europe and playing it," said MacIntyre, who will be teeing up alongside some familiar faces as well as the LIV rebels who have been lesser spotted on the regular PGA Tour.

“Obviously there are a few from other tours (LIV) that will be playing, but it almost feels normal, you fit in. It’s not anything out of the ordinary, which is a good thing. You can just pitch up and prepare the same way that you always do and feel a lot more comfortable.”

MacIntyre’s 13th place finish at Myrtle Beach may not have been against the crème de le crème of the PGA Tour – the big guns were all at Quail Hollow for a signature event – but it was a timely tonic as the Ryder Cup man continues to find his feet. In this game, patience is a virtue.

“I think I've been getting annoyed because I'm impatient,” added MacIntyre, who has made over $600,000 from 13 events in this golfing land of milk and honey despite enduring a variety of frustrations.

“It’s a golf season. When you think things are not going well, one good shot, one feel can change it all.”

MacIntyre continue to take great inspiration from the exploits of his old DP World Tour colleague, Matthieu Pavon.

Like MacIntyre, the Frenchman earned one of 10 cards for the 2024 PGA Tour through last year’s European’s circuit’s rankings and he hit the ground running like a paratrooper going into battle.

In January, he won the Farmers Insurance Open and not long after was third in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. It’s been quite the rise, given that his maiden DP World Tour win arrived only last October in Spain

“If you asked him before he won in Madrid that in under a year, you're going to be a top 20 player in the world, he'd probably say, ‘I believe I've got the game but do I expect it? Probably not’.

“So things can change really quickly in this game.  It's the same for everyone.  It can change in an absolute heartbeat.”