TIME TO BAN SLOWCOACH ‘CHEATS’

committee guys say every week that’s what they talk about — but nothing happens. ‘On the pro Tour, you have to make it ruthless and say, that’s it — a shot penalty. You can’t have a monetary thing. ‘In cricket, if he doesn’t meet his over rate, he’s out. You could do that. Two-shot penalties and you are suspended the next week — and it might be The Open. ‘Guys are never ready. The guy who plays third can slow everything up. By the time he gets to play, he’s not even got his glove on yet. As you get older, you learn. ‘I go out with my mates and go round the course in two-and-a half-hours. We are always ready, with the glove out. ‘And guys on tour playing third still have to get the glove on and get the yardage book out, and you think: “Are you kidding?”.’ Gallacher, aware that often some of the worst offenders are young players fresh to the professional ranks, believes the key lies in education — and reviving the old ‘Apollo week’, named after an equipment manufacturer, that the European Tour used to run for rookies. ‘You need an Apollo week,’ he said: ‘Get some ex-Tour pros in to show them what to do. Not many of us have bad times, the older generation. ‘When I first came on tour, we had Apollo weeks. The new guys need something like that just to reiterate what happens when you go on tour. ‘They have to know what goes on. We had media training, we had TV training, you met the travel guys. ‘It was like a big boot camp for a week and it was all laid out. That’s the way forward.’