It’s 600 not out on Tour for Stephen – and he’s far from finished yet
Stephen Gallacher will have an extra-special reason to celebrate his final event of 2021.
It will mark his 600th tournament on the European Tour.
Gallacher will become only the 13th player to reach that feat when he tees up at the AVIV Dubai Championship, starting on Thursday.
Having turned 47 last Monday, he becomes the fourth Scot to hit that milestone, following on from Sam Torrance, Colin Montgomerie and Paul Lawrie.
And he has certainly come a long way from the 18-year-old amateur, who made his debut on the Tour at the Scottish Open at Gleneagles way back in 1993.
But he is torn about which tournament would stand out above any other from the last 28 years.
“Dubai is 600 not out for me,” he tells The Sunday Post. “And I’m keen to stress that it is ‘not out’.
“I’m absolutely chuffed to bits with that, and it promises to be a special event for me. It’s quite an achievement.
“But I’m not done yet. Hopefully, I can have a good season next year, and get another season or two after that before I reach Seniors golf.
“If I had to pick one event, I would go for winning in India with my son, Jack, or the Dunhill Links at St Andrews in 2004.
“Winning with my son on the bag or my first win, it’s hard to choose between those two.”
That victory at the Indian Open in March, 2019 was the last of Gallacher’s four European Tour successes, achieved with his son caddying for him.
Unfortunately, due to Covid, the tournament was cancelled in both 2020 and this year, but it was announced last week that it will be back on the schedule next February.
The early part of the 2022 European Tour season has been released, while the rest of the schedule will be announced on Tuesday.
And after two difficult years, the Linlithgow man is happy to say that things are starting to look a bit more like business as normal.
“I will love to go back to India and defend it,” he says. “That will be great for me and Jack.
“That comes after five events in a row in the Middle East, so it’s a nice stretch to start the year.
“From what I’ve seen, next year looks set to be bumper, one of the best ever. And we’ll be able to sit down and plan a proper schedule.
“The last couple of years, lots of things have been last-minute. But we’ve been told that this schedule will be pretty much set in stone, barring another pandemic.”
While the PGA Tour has been able to roll along pretty much untouched by Covid, in terms of its tournament schedule, things have been far more challenging on this side of the Atlantic.
New events have been created from scratch, simply to ensure members have had somewhere to play and TV contracts could be honoured.
As a member of the European Tour’s Tournament Committee, Gallacher has seen at first-hand the difficulties that have been faced.
And he believes that coming through these challenges is one of the greatest achievements in the Tour’s long history.
“These last 18 months have been the hardest of my time on Tour, but everyone has had their own battles,” he admits.
“I didn’t enjoy the golf with no crowds, or not being able to have dinner with your mates in the evening. That’s something I enjoy about being on Tour.
“We’re a global Tour, and that’s why it has been so tough.
“We’re dealing with different sanctions and rules in different countries, and difficult logistics.
“But the Tour has been brilliant, and that is testament to the top brass.
“They have looked after all the players, and they’ve kept the sponsors on board.
“The French Open is coming back to Le Golf National, we were back in Switzerland this year, and all the tournaments are starting to return.
“We’re coming out of this stronger than we could have imagined, and that is testament to CEO, Keith Pelley, and his staff.”