Stephen Gallacher is first pro to get Gullane privileges

STEPHEN Gallacher has become the first professional to be granted playing privileges at Gullane after the world No 71 started to pay the odd visit to the East Lothian venue in recent weeks with some of his former amateur colleagues.

Gallacher, who has offered to mentor some of the club's juniors as a way of giving something in return, is delighted with the arrangement, especially after revealing he'd received three knock-backs from other Scottish clubs earlier in his career.

"It came about through Tom O'Malley, the former Hibernian chairman, who is a friend of my uncle Bernard and also someone who has always taken a great interest in the careers of players like myself and Raymond Russell," said the former Dunhill Links champion. "He put me in touch with Ross Torkington, a Gullane member, who approached the committee on my behalf and, following a meeting with club secretary Stephen Anthony, I was delighted to be informed that I had been granted full playing privileges."

Gallacher, who was attached to Loch Lomond for a spell, does most of his practising when he's at home at Kingsfield Golf Centre, which is close to his house in Linlithgow, but he's been re-awakened recently to the benefits of playing on the East Lothian coast at this time of the year.

"I've been down at Gullane three times over the past few weeks, playing with Scott Knowles, Simon Mackenzie and also James McGhee, who is a member there," added the 36-year-old. "The courses are always in immaculate condition and, in addition to No 1 and No 2 being great tests of golf, I can also play No 3 if I want to sharpen up my wedge play. Due to having such a busy schedule, it might be the case that I only get down there about a dozen times a year, but I think an arrangement like this is good for Scottish golf, especially when I look back and recall the fact I was knocked back by three clubs when I tried to do something similar earlier in my career."

While the membership at Gullane includes "a number of professionals", Gallacher is the first to be granted playing privileges, the committee having agreed to the decision unanimously on the strength of his European Tour status, the player being on course to be top Scot in the Race to Dubai for the second season running on the back of a strong start to the year in the Middle East.

"This came about through a member approaching the committee and that led to the committee talking about the possibility of Stephen being granted playing privileges as a European Tour player," said club secretary Anthony. "I met with him last week and he said he was basically looking for somewhere he could play during the winter and, moreover, on good golf courses.

"It was a unanimous decision and Stephen will be helping us out with our juniors in his spare time. He has sent me his schedule and we will be fixing it up for him to do some mentoring."

Gallacher, who just missed out on a place in last month's WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona, returns to action in next week's inaugural Sicilian Open before moving on to Spain the following week for the Andalucian Open in Malaga. His target in those two events is to try to climb into the world's top 50 and secure a late invite to the Masters.