The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
A decent 2019, but scope for better
cotland’s 2018 European Tour season, as we detailed a year ago at this time, was pretty much a disaster narrowly avoided.
Thankfully, the 2019 regular season, which ended in Portugal on Sunday, was far better, after most of our tour pros avoided losing their playing rights at the 11th hour.
A potential new star’s exploits make T2G’s annual Scottish Euro Tour report card look a lot better than it might.
He’s the only one in the top 50, so there’s still plenty of room for an overall improvement.
Robert MacIntyre A (R2D 7th, best 2nd British Masters, Made In Denmark, European Open)
In addition, Bob had the best debut by a Scot in the Open since Andrew Kirkaldy in 1879, no less. The unanimous Rookie of the Year on the Tour, the only thing that keeps him from an A+ is that he didn’t convert one of his five top 10 finishes into a win – but one suspects that won’t be long in coming.
Richie Ramsay B (R2D 58th, best 5th British Masters)
Ramsay, a three-time Tour winner, only escaped Tour School by the skin of his teeth last year. This time a strong start including a good run at Hillside set him up and he finished well with three top 10s in his last four events to get into the season-ending DP World Championship. A great comeback.
Scott Jamieson B- (R2D 74th, best 3rd Alfred Dunhill Champs)
Jamieson had a solid season after being close to losing his card in three of the previous four years. Had his season’s high finish before 2018 had even ended and then got his biggest cheque at Abu Dhabi in his first event of 2019. A total of 15 cuts made in his first 21 events meant a slow end to the season didn’t hurt him.
David Drysdale C (R2D 84th, best 2nd, Alfred Dunhill Champs)
The arch-survivor qualified for his 16th consecutive year on Tour with big finishes in December at Hong Kong and South Africa. Didn’t have a top 20 after February, so we’ll mark him down a little for that, but he remains the most durable of Scottish Tour players.
Stephen Gallacher C (R2D 87th, best 1st, Indian Open)
Gallacher’s fourth tour title came out of the blue, in a spell where he made just four cuts in 20 events. But a win is a win and they’ve been rare indeed for Scots in recent times. A couple of solid performances in Italy and France latterly suggest some form is returning.
David Law C+ (R2D 89th, best 1st, Vic Open)
A maiden win in a rookie season is all you can ask, and February’s victory in Australia settled any card issues for the popular Aberdonian. After a decent run of six events from April to June, he didn’t make much further impact. Still, he’ll have a much stronger schedule with a few Rolex Series events to play in 2020.
Grant Forrest C (R2D 91st, best 6th, Trophee Hassan)
The North Berwick player had his card secure after the Scottish Open, the week after his biggest cheque in Ireland, but it was slightly disappointing that he didn’t kick on, failing to have a top 50 finish thereafter. Card retained means mission accomplished but we think Forrest has the talent to do a good bit better than that.
Russell Knox C- (R2D 131st, best 15th, Dunhill Links)
Knox has his crack at the big-money events still to come in China, Turkey, South Africa and Dubai, but it’s been a quiet season on both sides of the Atlantic for him. He’ll continue to spend most of his time in the US, no doubt.
Liam Johnson D (R2D 148th, best 5th, Czech Masters)
The only one of the four Scottish rookies coming off the Challenge Tour not to regain his card, the Dumfries player is by his own admission a streaky player and didn’t ever have the big week he needed. If he doesn’t save his card at Tour School, he’s good enough to get back after a regrouping back in the second tier.
Calum Hill (R2D 174th, best 17th, Spanish Open) and Ewen Ferguson (R2D 173rd, best 3rd, Belgian Knockout)
Unmarked, because they had just three starts each on tour. Hill will play on the main tour in 2020 as he’s top of the Challenge Tour rankings with just the Grand Final event to play, while Ferguson has a wee bit more to do at 23rd on the rankings with the top 15 getting promotion. But both showed in their short bursts that they could thrive at the top level.
Marc Warren F (R2D 215th, best 24th, SA Open)
His best finish was in his first event, and it was a desperate season for a player who was in the world’s Top 50 just four years ago. Didn’t make a cut from May to September and the acute frustration manifested itself in a couple of disqualifications. Hard to see where the three-time tour winner goes from here.
For more sports opinion visit Steve’s blog at thecourier.co.uk/ sport/blogs/steve-scott
He didn’t convert one of his five top 10 finishes into a win – but one suspects that won’t be long in coming