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Three legends of the game are heading to Gleneagles this July.
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Stephen Gallacher excited to be going full circle at Gleneagles when he tees up in Senior Open
By Martin Dempster - The Scotsman
2014 Ryder Cup team-mates set for reunion in over-50s’ Claret Jug event in Perthshire in July
Talk about going full circle. Initially as a spectator at the Bell’s Scottish Open before playing in the 1993 event as an amateur, Stephen Gallacher got his first introduction to tournament golf on the King’s Course at Gleneagles and now he’s licking his lips about being back there later this year on senior service.
“It’s kind of a weird one for me, but I’m looking forward to it,” he admitted of the first of what ended up as a whopping 664 DP World Tour appearances coming on the most iconic of the three courses at the Perthshire venues and returning there 33 years later as a Staysure Legends Tour card holder to play in the ISPS Handa Senior Open on 22-26 July.
Add in the fact that he played in a winning Ryder Cup team at Gleneagles in 2014 - it was held on the PGA Centenary Course rather than the King’s Course - and is now an ambassador for the five-star resort, it’s understandable that Gallacher is excited about what will be a second appearance in the over-50s’ Claret Jug joust.
“There’s a uniqueness about this place and there’s going to be a great field,” said the 51-year-old. “I can’t wait for it to come around and it’s one I am going to be practising so hard for. I’ll be up here once a week just to try and familiarise myself with the course.”
Gallacher played it for the first time in 20 years on Monday before enjoying his first stay in the hotel since being part of Paul McGinley’s triumphant team in the Ryder Cup 12 years ago. “It’s just a classic course that has stood the test of time,” observed the Bathgate man. “It looks wide open and the greens look huge. But the greens are slopey and you can tuck the pins away. It’s a great track and a brilliant test. All the players love playing here and that’s why the field is going to be so great.”
Darren Clarke, who won the event’s first staging at Gleneagles in 2022, will be back to try and emulate that feat while others already confirmed include 2025 champion Padraig Harrington and Ernie Els, both two-time Open winners. Harrington not only made the cut in the 108th PGA Championship last week at the age of 54 but finished joint-18th behind Aaron Rai at Aronimink.
“Padraig is amazing, isn’t he?” said Gallacher. “You just watch him last week in the PGA, finishing in the top 20 after chipping in twice in the last three holes. He’s just infectious. I see him on the Champions Tour and the Legends Tour and he’s looking forward to coming back here.
“I was talking to him about his strategy here, including playing down the Queen’s Course on the last. He’s just bonkers Padraig, really. There’s not one thing he’s not tried. He’s tried everything to try and get that extra one per cent.
“He’s so open as well. He talked about being aggressive on certain holes here and others where he wasn’t aggressive. You’ve got to learn from these guys. I look up to Padraig. I talk to him a lot.
“I played Walker Cup with him in 1995 and I try to pick his brains. At senior level, he’s the one you’ve got to try and beat because he hits it like a youngster and tries so hard. He’s the benchmark, if you beat him, you know you’ve done alright.”
Stephen Gallacher speaks to reporters at a media day for the ISPS Handa Senior Open, which is being held at Gleneagles for a second time this summer | Kenny Smith/ISPS Handa Senior Open
In the 1993 Bell’s Scottish Open, Swede Jesper Parnevik was the player who claimed the coveted crown after coming out on top against the likes of Seve Ballesteros, Sandy Lyle, Ian Woosnam, Vijay Singh, Colin Montgomerie and Payne Stewart.
“It was a tournament I always came up to with my family as my introduction to tournament golf was watching my uncle Bernard at the Bell’s Scottish Open,” recalled Gallacher, who is being joined in July by Jamie Donaldson, who clinched Europe’s victory in the 2014 Ryder Cup after hitting a majestic approach at the par-4 15th in his singles match against Keegan Bradley. “I remember Sam Torrance coming to Bathgate and shooting 58 before coming up to play in the Bell’s Scottish Open.
“I’d won the Scottish Amateur in 1992 and that got me into the Scottish Open the following year. I played with Alberto Binaghi and a big Swiss guy. I couldn’t believe being on the range with Seve, Woosnam, Sam Torrance, Vijay Singh - guys I’d only read about at that point in Golf Monthly and that would have been about it. To see them close up and end up playing with them was fantastic.
“Back then I was a proper amateur whereas the kids nowadays are so much better-equipped to play tournament golf. I was so nervous. Basically, I was too young. I was still playing for the Bathgate team on a Friday night. I had to miss my team match to play in the Bell’s Scottish Open.
“I’m sure Tony Jacklin played that year and guys like Peter Oosterhuis as well. I ended up playing in 664 events and that was the first one. So to come back and play my first Senior Open here as well is a bit special.”
Gallacher, who finished joint-12th on his Senior Open debut at Sunningdale last summer, came close to landing a maiden over-50s’ win earlier this year on the Staysure Legends Tour at La Manga, where he was pipped by a brilliant finish from Donaldson.
Like lots of others before him, the Bathgate man has found a new lease of life at the end of a long career on the regular tour. “Both JD [Donaldson] and I played on the DP World Tour right up until we were 50 and golf has changed,” said Gallacher. “Tiger [Woods] changed it for me and now the young team hit it so far, meaning it is just tough to compete.
“You got into a tournament now and get yourself into contention and feel you have a chance of winning again. We are now the youngsters and can hopefully take advantage of the first five or six years out here.
“Just to be in contention and have a chance of winning again is what got us into the sport. It has rejuvenated us a little bit. We still work as hard and that is the beauty of this game. You can still compete and still win. Look at Bernard Langer, who is 68.
“I played in a tournament a fortnight ago and he is first in the gym. [Miguel Angel] Jimenez is 63 and he’s in the gym and also hits more balls than he used to. Monty is back really well, too. Golf is such a great sport and we are almost starting to love it again where it was a bit of a bind the last five years. The love and enthusiasm comes back and that’s what makes you happy.”
Langer, a record four-time Senior Open winner, is still going strong at 68,” replied Gallacher, smiling, after being asked if he felt he still had another 17 years or so in the tank. “That’s golf, isn’t it. It has to be the best sport. We are talking about welcoming the likes of Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington Vijay Singh and Monty here later this year and hopefully Tiger one day as well.
“It’s just brilliant to be competing with them again because they are still competitive and that’s the bit myself and JD probably couldn’t believe - how they are still competitive, how much they practice, how well they putt. It’s not just a case of turning up on the Senior Tour and it’s easy to win. You’ve still got to put in hard yards, but, when you get your love for the game back, you don’t mind that. The body is the hard bit. So just keep taking Advil, paracetamol and other potions (laughing).”
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Richard Bland wins second US Senior Major Championship
England's Richard Bland won the 44th U.S. Senior Open with a par on the fourth playoff hole at Newport Country Club, outlasting Japan's Hiroyuki Fujita in a marathon Monday finish in Rhode Island.
Both players finished regulation at 13-under 267, requiring a two-hole aggregate playoff on Nos. 10 and 18. After both players went par-par, the playoff moved to a sudden-death format on No. 18. Both players made bogey on the first hole of sudden-death, and Bland got up-and-down for par from a greenside bunker on the second hole of sudden death, the fourth playoff hole overall, to earn his second senior major title of the season. Bland also won the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in Michigan.
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