Stephen Gallacher back in form and back in the money at Wentworth

May 27 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

STEPHEN Gallacher’s fourth-place finish in the PGA Championship at Wentworth last Sunday is, in reality, if not in place terms, his best finish on the European Tour since his win in 2004 at Dunhill.

And following on so closely after a tense time of illness and doubt about his career it has shown yet again the character of the popular Kingsfield Golf Centre pro.

The BMW-sponsored PGA is a massive tournament on the tour’s schedule, ranking not far behind the Open and there was just about as good a field as could be assembled for a European event.

That Stephen was within a whisker of getting into a play-off for the title is testament to how much his game has come on in the months since he finished third in the Tour School at the end of last year.

There is probably a bit of irony, too, in the fact that the eventual winner was Simon Khan who had pipped Stephen for top spot on that occasion.

The big man’s rounds of 69, 72 and 69 left him some five shots off the lead but only three off second place going into the last round on a course that had been completely revamped for this year’s event.

Stephen had not previously shown at the club where his Uncle Bernard was the pro for so many years; it just didn’t seem to suit him.

This time he was right up there, playing well, hanging in when better known names like European No1 Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Martin Kaymer, and holder Paul Casey were struggling.

Chances there were for him too, though he didn’t quite play as well as he had done on the first three days. As early as the third there was an eight-foot birdie which escaped, and after a good par-saving four-yarder at the 13th there was another missed opportunity at the difficult 15th after two lovely shots to little more than five feet.

The 16th and 17th were negotiated in par even if the former was a struggle after he had visited two bunkers and agonisingly hit the pin with his second recovery from a greenside trap.

So it left Simon Khan, playing ahead, just out of reach, and there was no second place either when Stephen’s eight-foot birdie chance at the final hole slipped just past. So it was a 70 for a four under total of 280, two off the pace.

There is, though, the small matter, after a great week, of a 225,0000-euro compensation nicely stashed away in the Gallacher bank account and his card and playing rights for 2011 are assured.

I’m positive that there will be the goal of winning again in his sights in the near future as he moves on this week to Madrid then to Wales the following week.

On the local front, Uphall has had the area’s first open of the year — for the Cameron Bowl — this time reduced to a single round and with the handicap limit upped to 10 to encourage the entries which were not forthcoming for the two-round format.

New format or not there was a familiarity about the upper reaches of the prize list with Pumpherston’s Paul Drake taking top spot for the fifth occasion in his career, this time with a fine 67.

This left Paul a single shot ahead of second-placed Nick Aitken of Longniddry while best-placed from the host club was Andy Stevenson, joint third on 69 with D Ritchie of Falkirk. M McLeod of Lanark took fifth prize for his 70.

Uphall’s Mark Proudfoot won top handicap honours for his 71-6=65 but only after a countback against both E McIntosh (9) of Newbattle and his home club colleague Jamie Gardner (5). Fourth handicap went to local veteran Davy Meldrum, benefiting from a series of recent lessons. Davy had 71-5=66.

Earlier in the week the club’s Third Midweek Spoon had been won by Scott Grieve with 78-17=61, a shot better than runner-up Robert Frame jnr (6).

The West Lothian club came up with a new idea for its recent Seaham Trophy. Members were able to choose whether to play in the event on Friday or Saturday.

Eventual winner was Peter Martin (14) with a grand net 64 – two better than joint runners-up Colin Anderson (9) and Jim Watson (12).

Greenburn had competitions both days for its keener members last weekend. Saturday’s winner of the McMillan Trophy was Willie Middleton with 73-7=66, a shot ahead of second-placed Scott Stewart (18) and two better than third man Paul Ballantyne (6).

The next day it was John Spence (20) at the head of matters to win the Heineken Trophy with a net 63, three better than another tie for second involving Graham Smith (16) and Dougie Allison (14).

Up at Harburn the club’s Storry Cup second round had J McGrane at the top of the leaderboard with a net 64 off his seven mark, two better than both R Turner (12) and P Foster (14) in joint second place.

And the club’s latest episode in the qualification for the Kirk Rosebowl has gone to Ged Sharkey for his 69-5=64. There was a tie for second on 65 net between R Barkey (14) and A Curran (2).

Meanwhile, the ladies section at the club got a lovely evening for their most recent event, a Cross Creek Spoon. Agnes Cosgrove took advantage of the balmy conditions to post a winning 99-30=69, one ahead of experienced runner-up Senga Francis (14) while youngster Alison McBride finished third on 71 off her nine handicap.

S Wilson won Pumpherston’s May Medal recently with a return of 87-24=63. R Scott (15) came second on 66 while AG Duthie took third on 67 off his 16 mark.

Linlithgow’s Stein Trophy was won in Saturday’s heat by Gary Cornhill (25). The high handicapper had a net 64 to pip four players, Martin Riach (23), David Spalding (8), Ryan Green(8) and James Campbell (9) by a single shot.