Stephen Gallacher inspired by Andy Murray’s win

Stephen Gallacher was able to feel more relaxed before the Scottish Open. Picture: SNS

HE didn’t envy Andy Murray as he carried the whole of Britain’s weight on his shoulders to become a Wimbledon winner, the first male tennis player from within these shores to claim the title in 77 years.

But, backed up by 18 fellow Scots and no longer finding himself entering the ‘Last Chance Saloon’ for next week’s Open Championship, Stephen Gallacher is ready to handle the home pressure in the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open starting tomorrow.

A fortnight ago, in the Irish equivalent at Carton House, an expectant home crowd suffered a crushing blow as world No 2 Rory McIlroy and three of his fellow major winners – Padraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke – all missed the halfway cut. If that was caused by pressure, then Gallacher reckons Murray’s weekend win in SW19 was all the more praiseworthy.

“We obviously feel pressure playing at home; it’s how you use it,” said the winner of the Dubai Desert Classic earlier this year but, more pertinently, using his 2004 Dunhill Links Championship success to offer his views on the subject. “You can’t let it get to you and try too hard. You have to try and embrace it and enjoy it. But there’s certainly not the pressure Andy Murray was under last week with the expectancy of the whole of Britain on his shoulders. For two months, he’s had people asking if he was going to win at Wimbledon this time.”

Delighted that he did, Gallacher said he’d had a face-to-face chat with Murray earlier in the year and has been using a subsequent meeting with his fellow Scot’s strength and conditioning coach, Matt Little, to get the best out of his own body on the golf course.

“I met Andy at the start of the year in Abu Dhabi, where he was playing in an exhibition,” said the 38-year-old. “I watched him warm up and practice and getting that opportunity, as well as seeing the people around him, makes you realise that, if you want something badly enough, you have to work hard for it.

“Apparently, Andy hits balls non-stop and you can also see how much Andy’s physique has changed. We had a chat, then, the week after, I randomly bumped into his strength and conditioning coach.”

Asked what he’d been able to glean from that, Gallacher added: “It’s hard to take anything on because they [tennis players] are very physical, very stop-start and play for five hours. We just need to be fit enough to walk around a course and hit balls.

“It was more about the way they sequence their training and how they do it. The good thing for them is that they can have quite a big amount of time off to work on it.