Stephen Gallacher is yet another seminal lesson that success doesn’t breed success, even if he shares pole position for his fourth European Tour victory.
The Scotsman is tied for the lead with New York native Julian Suri in the $1.175 million Hero Indian Open after matching 5-under-par 67s.
Gallacher eagled the par-5 final hole at DLF Golf & Country Club in New Delhi to get to the top of the leaderboard. Suri had seven birdies and two dropped shots.
Not many would have predicted Gallacher sharing the first-round lead after his start to this season. The 42-year-old has made just one cut from six starts. His T67 finish in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic is his only four-round performance. He’s averaging 72.93 per round. No wonder 67 seems out of the blue.
“I have started poorly to be honest,” Gallacher admitted. “I’ve had a sort of big miss in the bag that has been costing me triples and doubles.”
The 1995 Walker Cup player posted his best finish of 2018 in last year’s Indian Open, placing T7. It was one of only two top 10s along with T9 in the Aberdeen Asset Scottish Open as he finished 82nd on the European money list.
“Coming back to a place where I’ve played well, hopefully I can draw on some inspiration from last year,” he said.
Gallacher was teeing it up with the world’s elite in the WGC–Match Play as little as four years ago. He did so a year after making his Ryder Cup debut at home in Scotland, when Europe won the 2014 match at Gleneagles. That should have been when the talented Scotsman pushed on. Yet this week he’s playing among the minnows.
To be fair, the Scotsman has had a good career with three European Tour wins. However, he’s gone from 31st on the Official World Golf Ranking in February 2015 to his current position at 355th. He’s a far better player than his ranking.
Suri is playing only his second event of 2019 after a T20 in last week’s Maybank Championship. The former Duke player is coming back from surgery on an abdominal hernia.
“I got the all clear about four or five weeks ago from the doc and last week in Malaysia was my first event,” Suri said. “With the heat there and all the conditions, the body felt great and the swing felt good too. It’s obviously still a work in progress but to shoot a score like this, on a course like this, is a good sign going forward.”
Suri, who makes his home in St Augustine, Florida, is looking for his second Euro Tour victory following the 2017 Made in Denmark.
