Martin Dempster: Sky’s the limit as Scots climb back up golf’s rankings

Even two years ago, as a changing of the guard started to materialise among Scotland’s best players, we had little to crow about in world ranking terms. Martin Laird, at 91st, had just broken into the top 100 for the first time, with Richie Ramsay his nearest compatriot at 131st. In short, we’d become the poor relations on the world stage in comparison to England and also, of course, Ireland. Even now, we still have plenty ground to make up on both those countries in terms of top-20 players as well as major titles.

Yet, credit should be given where credit is due and those world rankings are certainly painting a prettier picture about the future of Scottish golf right now than they have for many a moon. The latest list contains three Scots in the top 100 – US-based Laird continuing to lead the way in 39th, six spots above Paul Lawrie, with Stephen Gallacher having climbed 51 places to 97th after his second-placed finish in the Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday. By my reckoning, it’s the first time that has happened since 2004, when, in the corresponding week, for instance, Montgomerie was 55th, Forsyth 93rd and Lawrie 99th.

That October, Montgomerie was down to 65th and Gallacher, thanks to his win in the Dunhill Links, the only other Scot in the top 100 at 68th. Barring a miraculous return to form, Montgomerie’s days of being the standard-bearer for Scottish golf on the main stage appear to be over and he can be proud of the way he once dominated the European game, winning seven Order of Merit titles on the trot and eight in total. What we have seen over the past few months, however, is just as encouraging in many ways as we are finally starting to witness a clutch of Scottish players raising their games simultaneously. Lawrie and Laird provided the spark on the same day last March. Lawrie made a welcome return to the winner’s circle as he triumphed in the Andalucian Open and then, a few hours later on the other side of the Atlantic, Laird made it a dream double by claiming the Bay Hill Invitational.

Helping to stir the pot even more, Scott Jamieson produced a string of top-tens in his rookie season, George Murray came close to winning the Dunhill Links, Ramsay hit a rich vein of form and, in a final flourish, Lawrie brought the curtain down on 2011 by claiming second spot in the Dubai World Championship.

The opening few weeks of the new season have been every bit as encouraging. Laird started his year by chasing home Steve Stricker, the world No 5, in the PGA Tour’s Tournament of Champions in Hawaii and, in the first six events on the European Tour, the Saltire has been prominent on the leaderboards every time.

Forsyth was fifth in the Africa Open, which also saw Craig Lee finish eighth; Warren and David Drysdale tied for third and Murray was ninth in the Joburg Open; Lawrie then took centre stage by finishing tenth, eighth and first in the Volvo Golf Champions, Abu Dhabi Championship and Qatar Masters respectively before Gallacher and Jamieson both put in strong challenges in Dubai to both finish inside the top five.

It all adds up to ten top-tens for Scots at the start of the European season and sees six of them – Lawrie, Gallacher, Drysdale, Jamieson, Warren and Forsyth – occupying spots inside the top 60 in this year’s Race to Dubai. When the first WGC event of 2012, the Accenture Matchplay, gets underway in the Arizona desert next week Laird and Lawrie will be flying the flag. What’s more, neither will be heading there simply to make up the numbers and pocket a tidy cheque.

At one point not that long ago it was easy to see where people were coming from when they accused the top Scottish players of living in a comfort zone, but collectively they now appear to have a new-found hunger and desire.

Take Gallacher in Dubai. He was paired with Lee Westwood for the final two rounds and matched the world No 2 blow for blow. He was also every bit as disappointed as Westwood to fall just short in his title bid and that was heartening to see.

“Close, but no cigar,” said Gallacher of his effort. He wants to be a winner again. Getting back into the top 100 is no longer good enough either.

He wants to join Laird and Lawrie in the top 50. Both those goals are achievable and he’s more willing than ever to put in the hard work required. So, too, is Drysdale, who may have been overshadowed by some of his compatriots in the past few weeks but has gone about his business very efficiently indeed.

He has not been outside the top 50 in five starts – his highest score in 19 rounds has been 73 – and is being rewarded for a power of hard graft since the end of last season.

Perhaps it was seeing both Forsyth and Warren lose their Tour cards two seasons ago that acted as a wake-up call to the Scottish contingent.

It was certainly a shock to the system that two talented individuals, both with a brace of European Tour titles in the bag, found themselves on the outside looking in.

But let’s not dwell on the past. Let’s look to the future. It has been a pleasure seeing Scottish golfers challenging on leaderboards in recent weeks. It’s also been nice to hear commentators acknowledging the resurgence.

England and Ireland have had their turn. Perhaps this is just the start of Scottish golf enjoying its own golden spell.