Bernard gallacher

Golf is a four-letter word when it comes to Beeb award

It was no surprise to see that golf was once again overlooked among the nominees for this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award.

Tommy Fleetwood did very well to win the European Tour’s Race to Dubai, but that was never going to be enough to make the 12-person shortlist.

Apart from that, the achievements of the other British players have been modest.

But would Justin Rose have made it if he had defeated Sergio Garcia in the play-off to win The Masters? I doubt it. And it’s an even bigger snub that Jordan Spieth is not even a contender for the Overseas Sports Personality category.

Now I’m certain that will be won by tennis star Roger Federer, but Spieth’s efforts in winning The Open at Royal Birkdale should not have been overlooked.

I would challenge anyone to watch his last nine holes on that Sunday and not be taken in by the excitement of winning the biggest prize in our sport.

Then to discover that Tom Brady is one of the nominees is another slap in the face for golf.

Brady is a great American Football player and won his fifth Super Bowl this year, but his sport is not played in the UK to any great degree.

Most people in Bathgate probably wouldn’t know who Brady is. But they would have a fair idea who Jordan Spieth is.

These decisions only seem to confirm the strange relationship that golf has with the Sports Personality of the Year Award.

Despite all our great British golfers, we have only ever had two winners down the years: Dai Rees in 1957 and Sir Nick Faldo in 1989.

Dai’s was an interesting one, because he won it for captaining Great Britain & Ireland to our first Ryder Cup win for 24 years.

When I did that in 1995, I received the Team of the Year prize on behalf of the players.

Faldo won it for winning The Masters. But he was perhaps lucky because Sandy Lyle had become the first British winner at Augusta 12 months earlier.

Nick was more deserving of it in 1990 when he won both The Masters and The Open at St Andrews – but he didn’t even come in the top three for the Beeb award!

I still think Tony Jacklin was desperately unlucky not to pick up the famous trophy.

For those who can recall, Tony winning The Open, at Royal Lytham in 1969, was a huge deal for British golf and British sport.

Tony became a big name and he followed it up by winning the US Open less than 12 months later in another incredible feat.

He was runner-up to Ann Jones and Sir Henry Cooper for the Sports Personality of the Year in both years, but I don’t think either of them would have been upset if Tony had won.

The over-riding impression seems to be that, as far as this award is concerned, golf is not relevant. But think of the great crowds this year at Birkdale, Wentworth and Close House for the British Masters.

Golf is still well supported. But it’s our job, and that of the European Tour, to make sure that when our players achieve great success, it is recognised by the wider British public.