Martin Dempster: Forgotten man Gallacher can rejuvenate Scots golf

Published on Monday 7 December 2009 23:11

AWAY from the Tiger Woods shenanigans – it's a miracle the man has been able to retain his status as the world No 1 if all these "personal sins" are to be believed – a significant development may have occurred in terms of Scottish golf having more to shout about on the European Tour in 2010 than we had in the season that's just finished.

• Stephen Gallacher's performance at the European Tour Qualifying School final was one of the most remarkable this season. Picture: Getty

David Drysdale certainly earned pass marks and so, too, did Richie Ramsay given that he managed to retain his Tour card in what was his first full season on the circuit. I also reckon Callum Macaulay can hold his head up, having come close to doing likewise even though he's still wet behind the ears when it comes to playing in the professional ranks.

As for the others, they won't need me to tell them that their tick went in the 'could do better' column, the likes of Paul Lawrie, Alastair Forsyth, Marc Warren and, in particular, Colin Montgomerie all having campaigns that offered little to get excited about as Scotland drew a blank on the European Tour for only the second time since 1986.

They'll hopefully come out with all guns blazing next season, but it's unlikely that any of the Scots will be looking forward to the 2010 campaign quite as much as Stephen Gallacher, who could be described as our 'forgotten man' given that he hadn't been seen on the course in a competitive sense since the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond in the middle of July.

Spending time with Gallacher recently, it was refreshing to hear him talk about having developed a fresh attitude during the four months he was sidelined due to a debilitating viral illness.

Gallacher is one of the most talented golfers this country has ever spawned and, after winning the Dunhill Links in 2004, we were all expecting to see him kick on and, by now, have a Ryder Cup appearance under hit belt. The fact his career has actually got into reverse since then is a major disappointment to Gallacher himself and the many people who are close to this likeable man.

Having had time to reflect recently, Gallacher has given himself a shake, the result of which is a player who has a new outlook and is ready to move on, leaving the things that have perhaps been holding him back in recent years firmly in the past.

Gallacher is too much of a gentleman to say what they were but I'm prepared to hazard a guess. I reckon some of the Scottish players have become a bit too cosy in their own company, the result being that, instead of being a spur to one another, they've all levelled out.

I think the time had come for them to break out on their own a bit more and it is interesting to note that Gallacher, after being attached to Stirling-based 110 Sport for a number of years, is now managed by an English-based company, GMI.

When I spoke with Gallacher, he was preparing for his competitive comeback in the European Tour Qualifying School, having heeded some excellent advice given to him by the European Tour to head there in the hope of securing one of the prized cards up for grabs even though he was guaranteed ten starts next season under a medical exemption.

In truth, I feared the six-round marathon would be a tall order for a player who hardly had the energy to play a practice round earlier in the year, yet the former Walker Cup player went to Girona and produced what, in my book at least, was one of the most remarkable performances of the season. Breaking 70 in all but one of the rounds, he finished third, just behind English duo Simon Khan and Sam Hutsby, and, in doing so, brightened up a year that had proved extremely frustrating, perhaps even worrying, in one fell swoop.

From the moment he followed his uncle Bernard on to the golfing stage, Gallacher has been renowned among his peers as being one of the best ball strikers around. Heck, some of those mechanical Swedes wouldn't be able to tie his laces in terms of natural golfing ability.

Gallacher's main problem in recent seasons has been poor putting, something that is all the more frustrating given that he had a magical touch on and around the greens when he earned a place in the record books by becoming the first Scottish player to land national titles at boys, youths and men's level, the latter coming in 1992, when he beat David Kirkpatrick from North Berwick in the final at Glasgow Gailes.

Steven O'Hara, Andrew Coltart and Scott Drummond also passed the Qualifying School exam this time around, the three of them deserving credit, too, for the way they handled such a pressure-packed experience after finishing outside the top 115 on this year's money-list.

For my money, though, Gallacher is the man who can spark Scottish fortunes and, based on what I was hearing from him over a coffee, I was thinking that before he even went out to Spain. At 35, he can still have the best years of his career ahead of him.

With a number of things in the pipeline, these are exciting times for the Bathgate boy who now lives in Linlithgow and, with a bit of luck, he'll be back where he belongs before too long.

Matthew gets the plaudits she richly deserves

I DON'T know who they were, but the judges for the sportscotland Scottish Sports Awards deserve a huge pat on the back for recognising golf in a way that doesn't happen very often when it comes to these sort of things.

Catriona Matthew won the top award, David Law scooped the prize for amateur performance of the year, the Open got the vote for best sporting event in 2009 and Colin Montgomerie was honoured with a lifetime achievement award.

In an era when you sometimes feel as though football is the only sport people give a damn about, this was all very refreshing and I only wish the results had been known before a conversation I had in the middle of last week.

There I was singing Matthew's praises in the wake of her magnificent win in the Women's British Open earlier this year, yet was struggling to convince a fellow golf journalist that her achievements in 2010 were greater than those of Andy Murray.

Don't get me wrong. I believe Murray has done a splendid job for Scottish sport over the last few years and exciting times lie ahead, there's no doubting that. It really does bug me, though, that Murray merits having a BBC Scotland journalist following him all around the world yet our golfers are often overlooked when they do something of note.

For once, golf got the plaudits it richly deserved and, in the case of Matthew, left, her award simply couldn't have gone to a more deserving recipient.