Gallacher signs off great year with honorary membership

Ryder Cup player Stephen Gallacher capped a fairytale 2014 season by receiving Honorary Membership of the PGA at the Scottish Region’s annual luncheon in Glasgow.

The world No 35, who was part of Europe’s winning team at Gleneagles in September, was presented with the accolade in the Hilton Hotel by PGA Chairman David Murchie.

Entertaining an audience of close to 700, Gallacher revealed in a Q&A with Dougie Donnelly the agony he went through straight after narrowly missing out on automatic qualification for the match in Perthshire.

Needing a top-two finish in the Italian Open - the final counting event - the Lothians man shot 65 in both the second and last round only to end up third behind South African Hennie Otto and Englisham David Howell.

“As I was about to step into the shower after the last round, I was feeling deflated when I was told by Scott Crockett, the European Tour’s Director of Communications, that Paul McGinley wanted to speak to me,” he said.

“When I went outside, Scott told me that Paul was standing under a tree and it was all a bit cloak and dagger.

“I wondered what he was going to tell me but all he said was, ‘well played, you’ve had a good tournament and now you’re going to face the longest day of your life tomorrow’.”

That’s when McGinley and two of his assistant captains, Sam Torrance and Des Smyth, met at Sunningdale to discuss their wildcard options, with Gallacher getting the phone call he’d been praying for along with Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter.

“I’d really wanted to follow in my uncle Bernard’s footsteps,” he said, “and I knew this match was probably going to be my only chance to do that in Scotland.”

As well as seeing Gallacher being made an Honorary Member, the annual event in Glasgow also saw coveted prizes handed out to David Huish, John Muir and Emma Fairnie.

Huish, a PGA member for 55 years, the majority of which were spent at North Berwick, received the John Panton Award (below with PGA board member Alan White).

“I am so thrilled to receive an award in the name of John Panton as he was my hero,” said the three-times Northern Open champion and five-times winner on the European Senior Tour.

Muir (below right with Scottish PGA captain Kenny Hutton) received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his role in the Deer Park course at Livingston having staged Tartan Tour events for more than 30 years, including the Scottish Under-25s, Scottish PGA Championship and, more recently, the Deer Park Masters.

Fairnie, winner of the Stewart Thom Award for her achievements in the PGA training programme when she was at Gullane, delivered her acceptance speech via video from New Zealand, having moved there to work.