Golf:Graeme McDowell has confirmed his intention to rejoin the PGA Tour next year. The Ryder Cup hero, not to mention US Open champion, announced his decision ahead of this week's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
The 31-year-old, who has a house in Lake Nona in Florida, played in 10 PGA Tour events last year and will officially take up his card and compete in the money-spinning FedEx Cup next season.
McDowell, who secured the match winning point for Europe at the Celtic Manor on Monday, does not intend to turn his back on the European Tour but will definitely play more tournaments on the other side of the Atlantic in the first half of next year.
"There's definitely going to be more of an American influence to my schedule for the first six months," McDowell explained.
"I want to give it a go next year because it's a non-Ryder Cup year and I would like to try to FedEx play-offs. I'll maybe not be quite as US-based as Luke Donald, Ian Poulter or Justin Rose, maybe like a Harrington-type schedule."
The Portrush golfer previously played on the US circuit after earning his card in 2006 but a string of disappointing performances led him to shift his focus back to European shores.
Six missed cuts in his first seven tournaments wasn’t quite how he had planned life in the big leagues and he is keen to put matters to rights.
"I had a card in 2006 but got injured early in that season and now I want to give it a real try," he added.
Lee Westwood, meanwhile, will try to put the Ryder Cup out of his mind and will not be distracted by the prospect of becoming world number one.
Westwood will knock Tiger Woods off the top of the rankings if he finishes first or second in a tournament he won in 2003.
"The thing this week to do is to concentrate on the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship as it's easy to get distracted and not be able to refocus after last week," Westwood said.
"Going to number two on Monday and having a chance to go to number one, I could get drawn towards that as well. But obviously if I take care of business on the golf course this week at the Dunhill Links then the world number one ranking takes care of itself.”
Westwood arrived in Scotland last night after celebrating well into the morning following Europe's stunning one-point victory over the US at Celtic Manor.
"Everybody was obviously very happy on Monday evening and why not?," he said. "It was an incredible Ryder Cup, had just about everything and the result in the end showed how close the two teams were.
"The weather almost added to the drama. Fortunately the result turned out in our favour through some gritty play.
I suppose G-Mac (McDowell) is the one that's been highlighted the most with it being the winning putt, but I thought it was a great team performance overall."