Turkish delight as Gallacher earns his place
Stephen Gallacher’s season has been extended after he gained an entry into this week’s Turkish Airlines Open, the first event in the European Tour’s Final Series, writes Martin Dempster.
It was touch and go for the 42-year-old after back-toback missed cuts in the final two regular events of the year left him sitting 78th in the Race to Dubai.
However, Gallacher has indeed secured a spot in the limited field, joining compatriots Richie Ramsay, David Drysdale, Marc Warren and Scott Jamieson in an event starting on Thursday.
Race to Dubai leader Tommy Fleetwood heads the line-up at the Regnum Carya resort in Belek, where Dane Thorbjorn Olesen defends the title in an event worth $7 million.
Meanwhile, Jack Doherty has agonisingly missed out on the final event of the season on the Challenge Tour, this week’s NBO Golf Classic Grand Final in Oman. The Kilmarnock man was pipped by around £1,000 for the last of the 45 spots in the event by Norwegian Jarand Ekeland Arnoy.
Doherty’s disappointment has left Bradley Neil, who is sitting 16th on the moneylist and needs to finish in the top 15 to earn an automatic step up to the European Tour next season, and 30th-ranked Grant Forrest to fly the Saltire in Muscat.
On the senior front, Colin Montgomerie will head into the final event of the season on the Champions Tour in a fortnight’s time sitting seventh on the Charles Schwab Cup standings.
It follows the 54-year-old having to settle for joint 27th in the second of this season’s Play-off events, the Powershares QQQ Championship in California.
That was won by Bernhard Langer as the German made it back-to-back victories by beating Miguel Angel Jimenez at the second extra hole in a playoff at Thousand Oaks.
The 60-year-old has now claimed seven titles this season and is a strong favourite to pick up the Charles Schwab Cup for the fourth year running, even though the points are reset heading into the final event.
Langer leads from Scott Mccarron, Kenny Perry, Jimenez and Kevin Sutherland and any of those players can win the Schwab Cup by triumphing in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix.