Stephen Gallacher's World Cup spot remains in balance

MARTIN Laird will make his World Cup debut in China later this year, but Stephen Gallacher has been left to sweat over the other spot in the Scottish team for the biennial event.

The leading 18 nations in the world rankings following the Open Championship qualified automatically and Scotland claimed the 11th spot thanks to Laird sitting at No 26.

The two-time PGA Tour winner has confirmed he'll be playing at Mission Hills in November but the identity of his partner is still unknown.

Having stayed in the top 100 - he was sitting 99th after finishing as the leading Scot at Royal St George's - Gallacher also thought he'd clinched his spot.

However, he's now been told that Laird has until 22 August to decide who he wants to play with and, due to the fact he's getting married this weekend, it probably isn't one of his priorities at the moment.

Laird did admit, though, that he is looking forward to getting the chance to emulate Colin Montgomerie and Marc Warren after they recorded Scotland's first World Cup win in 2007.

"I really can't wait to get to the World Cup and represent Scotland," he said. "I remember how much fun it was playing for my country when I was an amateur and it will be just as big a thrill to travel to China and hopefully put the Saltire at the top of the leaderboard."

In the latest world rankings, Gallacher has dropped to 103rd and, with Paul Lawrie 138th, Richie Ramsay 145th and Scott Jamieson 155th, it is possible that either of them could leap above him over the next month.