Stephen Gallacher is staring at the Black Sea nightmare of needing to take out Ryder Cup winning hero, Graeme McDowell in one of his two opening matches in the Volvo World Match-Plahy Championship.
Gallacher and fellow Scot Scott Jamieson will sit out today’s THURS) first round robin matches featuring just the 16 seeded players in the 24-player field.
Gallacher then tackles England’s Chris Wood tomorrow morning (FRD) and McDowell, who holed the winning putt at the 2010 Ryder Cup, in the afternoon.
The Bathgate pro secured his debut in the Euro 3m event winning the Omega Dubai Desert Classic and this week will be his first taste of individual match-play in his 17-year pro career.
He said: “Qualifying for this event is my first tournament reward for winning in Dubai, so I’ve been looking forward to this since the first week in February.
“But even before I saw the draw for this week, I knew there was not going to be any easy matches.
“Graeme’s just won recently in the States and we all know what he did a couple of years ago for Europe at Celtic Manor, and then there’s Chris Wood who won a week before me in Qatar.
“But then the nature of match-play, and if you are on your game, you can knock out a player like Graeme who’s ranked No. 8 in the world, so it’s very much like sudden death.
“Also having now played the course I’m pleased we are playing match play because it would a tough course to play with a scorecard in your pocket.”
Gallacher was observed, like many other of his fellow competitors, taking snaps from almost every point of the Bulgarian course throughout yesterday’s (WED) Pro-Am.
He said: “The course is absolutely spectacular, and I’ve never ever played a course like it.
“I agree with Scotty Jamieson there’s a little bit of Kingsbarns and Castle Stuart out there but there is nothing as near as dramatic back home in Scotland.
“When I joined the Tour full time in ’99 I knew I would be probably travelling to China and countries in Asia but never ever thought I’d be playing in Bulgaria in such a prestigious event like the Volvo World Match-Play.
“And congratulations to Volvo because they like to go to emerging golf nations and explore new destinations, and when people back home see the pictures on the course on TV they’re going to want to come out here and play.”
Gallacher will join Jamieson in an all-Scotland practice round on the course today ahead of their first matches on Friday.
And if both should win through to the last 16 the duo will face each other in Saturday afternoon’s quarter final, and with the winner looking to become the first Scot since Colin Montgomerie in 1999 to lift the trophy.
