Ryder Cup: Rookie Stephen Gallacher keen on making further appearances
Last Updated: 25/09/14 2:18pm
Stephen Gallacher hopes his first Ryder Cup will not be his last one now he has enjoyed a taste of the event.
Gallacher will make his Cup debut later this week as Europe defend their title against the United States at Gleneagles, just 35 miles down the road from the Scotsman's home in Linlithgow.
He was one of Paul McGinley's trio of captain's picks after narrowly missing out on the final spot to Graeme McDowell, and he admits he wondered whether his chance to play in the sport's biggest team event had gone for good.
Gallacher said: "I definitely thought it had (gone), but I made a conscious effort a couple of years ago to get in this one. Especially for my generation, it's never going to be here again. It's a course I like in your home country.
"It's the one that hopefully I can kick on from. As I've been here now, you get a taste for it and you want to play more.
"I just improved every single part of my game, whether it be mental, whether it be nutrition, injury prevention, down to my equipment, swing tinkering, the way I go about things, routines, absolutely everything.
"You get a little bit better in every aspect and the big picture gets better through that.
"After watching Medinah and speaking to Paul Lawrie quite a bit - he was on a massive high coming off Medinah - I thought, you know what, I'm starting to play a bit better now, let's try.
"I knew I had to have the best year of my life to get in, and I've had the best year of my life so far."
I knew I had to have the best year of my life to get in, and I've had the best year of my life so far.
Stephen Gallacher
Ambition
Gallacher follows in the footsteps of his uncle Bernard, who played eight times and also captained Europe on three occasions, and he has spoken with him to get some guidance as to what he can expect over the rest of the week.
"He says you're going to have long, long days, so it's all about conserving your energy," Gallacher added.
"Ultimately he wants me to enjoy myself, take a time-out to soak it in, 'just be yourself, play your own game'.
"It was my lifetime ambition, it was my goal to get here. I'm proud that I'm sitting here. I am very excited and it is a bit surreal still, because I live so close. But it's one I'm embracing and just trying to use the positive energy.
"Playing yesterday, getting off the first and playing a round was good, hitting the first tee shot and whatnot. It's just hard to keep it in tow until Friday."
But the overall result was not a positive one as he added, with a smile: "It cost me 150 quid! Rosie (Justin Rose) had a 10-skinner on one of the holes, which was a sore one."
