Stephen Gallacher does not believe in karma, or dwelling on his past misfortunes, but it was hard to ignore the symmetry between his opening to the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond and his struggles a year ago.
An opening 67 had him lying a shot behind the first round leaders 12 months after he finally admitted defeat in his battle to continue playing, despite suffering from the debilitating viral complaint sarcoidosis, and took three months out.
Had he opted out two weeks earlier, Gallacher would have been entitled to a year’s medical exemption on the European Tour, but the pull of playing at Loch Lomond convinced him to keep going and play through the disease, which attacks the lungs and joints in hindsight a huge mistake.
Instead of having a full year, he received a medical exemption lasting only 10 events.
Although he covered his bases by attending Tour School and finishing third, the career of the former Alfred Dunhill Links Championship winner hung in the balance.
The illness gave Gallacher a chance for reflection and a new purpose, and it has showed this year as he has stormed back with three top-six finishes in June getting him a place in the Open Championship next week.
He said, “In a way it was a good time because I could sort of ask myself frank questions.
“I was just idling along, underachieving a bit, and I thought about how I could get back to where I wanted to be as a player, in contention.”
He added, “I worked hard over the winter on my short game with David Burns, and worked hard again with Bob (Torrance), just trying to do the right things.”
The corner was not turned immediately, with three missed cuts to start the season, but he followed that with eight solid performances in the money before fourth place at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth proved the breakthrough.
Gallacher said, “I did set some goals at the start of the year and I’ve been changing them going along-keep the playing card, get into the Open, stuff like that. The next ones are getting in the top 100 and The Race To Dubai.”Typical proGallacher personifies the modern Scottish European Tour pro talented, but with fewer titles than that talent merits, and a magnificent ballstriker but often a mess on the greens.
He said, “The top guys are unbelievable. The putting saves them when they are playing bad, and when they’re good it means they’re shooting 63s, and that’s what I was missing.
“I spoke to Bernard, my uncle, and he was 27 putts a round at his peak, while I was 32, and getting it below 30 is the key I’ve been working hard at.”
The “two-thumb” grip he adopted after seeing fellow Scot Richie Ramsay use it has been a help, but it’s mostly practice.
Ramsay lacks little in self confidence and besting major champion playing partners Retief Goosen and Vijay Singh with his 69 on Thursday had him in buoyant mood.
He said, “The biggest thing for me is that the first time I played in this event two or three years ago there’s no way I could have shot that score and outscored players like them.
“Any time you’re paired with people like that you can feed off them and measure your performance. I got to feed off playing with top players in the Masters before but now I feel I want to go out there and beat them.”
Ramsay added, “I’m one of those people who could go out with Tiger Woods and I’d want to beat him. It doesn’t matter how good they are.”
To get even better, however, Ramsay has outlined a plan already for the winter which involves decamping to Atlanta.
“When I stand up on the first tee at the start of next year, I want to be ready.
“Ian Poulter practiced in Florida, came out straight away this year and was holing putts while I’d been at home in the snow and couldn’t get out and even hit any balls.”
The only other of the 14 Scots in the field to break par was Tartan Tour champion Craig Lee, who eagled the 13th in his one-under 70, while Martin Laird, David Drysdale and Scott Drummound managed to get round in par.
It was a tougher day, especially in the driving rain of the afternoon, for Colin Montgomerie and Paul Lawrie (both 74s), while Fife’s Peter Whiteford endured a nightmare 41 on the back nine to slump to a 79.