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DUNHILL LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP

October 10, 2004

Stephen Gallacher

ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND

Q. No better place for your first win, I presume?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: Well it is definitely the one outwith the PGA that you want to win on the European Tour. I had a few chances early on but with it being St Andrews a good shot means around 15 feet with the pins being so tight. At the fourth hole I holed a 25 footer down the hill which got me going.

Q. Talk us through the 17th?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: Well with the big wait on the tee, I decided to hit it left off the tee and just to slide it over because I was playing for the front right anyway. I had a heavy lie and it just didn't come out and ended up short on line so I had no shot at all, I just had to try and putt it to 25 feet and hope I holed it but I missed it.

Q. Sensational birdie at the 19th?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: Yes it was a perfect number for me. I had 106 yards and I hit my lob wedge 100 yards and it was a six mile an hour wind so it was a perfect shot for me. I hit it to about four feet. I hit a three iron from the tee.

Q. Did you always know you were going to win?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: It is fine knowing you are going to do it but it is another thing actually doing it. I have been knocking on the door for a while and everybody telling me I am good enough to do it but it is actually doing it that gives you the most pleasure. It is tough out here, the standards are so good.

Q. What can this win do for you?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: Hopefully I can go on and win again, and get far enough up the world rankings so that I can get into the World Golf Championship events. I think that is what you need to do more than anything else and I think that has to be my next step.

Q. You didn't really like the Old Course when you first started playing?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: Yes, but the weather was absolutely perfect, you couldn't have had it any better. As I said yesterday, it is a course which grows on you. For a start you think it is nothing special but the more you play, the more you realise what you have to do. If you are going to miss it, you have to miss it one way and stuff like that. You have to think your way round.

Q. You have had chances before, what was the difference today?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: I have just done a lot of work with Adam on trying to get my game as repetitive as you can. To keep that consistency in my game, in the way I think, because I have been a bit scatterbrain in the past, thinking about other things, so I was trying to get on the level.

Q. You look very calm?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: I just kept trying to go with my routine and enjoy it. That is all you can do. As I said to Adam there, if you said at the start of the day that I was going to be in a play-off, you'd be delighted wouldn't you.

Q. Did you ask Dermont Desmond about Celtic?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: No I asked him that in the practice round.

Q. Did you get an answer?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: Well not really, no!

Q. What did Adam say to you on the practice green before you went out in the play-off?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: Just to go out and try to enjoy it, stick to the same routines you had in the round before. This is what you practice for to be in situations like this.

Q. Has Bernard called you?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: I've have not heard at all, my phone is off, but I presume he will.

Q. Are you still working with John Pates?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: Yes, he has helped me definitely. I saw him this morning and I saw him yesterday. It is hard out there for six hours and we talk about how I am going to switch off because you only need to get tuned up for when you are hitting the ball. It is good talking to my playing partners and Marcus is a good guy. Just take your mind off it and keep going.

Q. What did you mean when you said you were scatterbrain?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: Well just trying to get a goal in sight, working towards something. This is going back three years when I changed management and coach and I started working with a psychologist. Because I was thinking swing technique all the time and going down that road, instead of thinking about the shot you are going to hit. This has given me the freedom to do that, and I can just let my golf go.

Q. Did the other Scots staying with you give you encouragement this morning?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: I room with them all the time and they just said good luck and stuff like that.

Q. What do you do with Â£445,000?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: I don't know.

Q. Don't give it to Celtic

STEPHEN GALLACHER: I won't, I'm cleverer than that.

Q. Was your grandfather here today?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: He was, his name is Bernard, although everyone calls him Barney

Q. Was it difficult to remain patient waiting for the win to come?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: It gets a bit frustrating, but at the end of the day, a lot of guys have to wait for their first win into their late 30s and 40s so you just have to wait. You can't let it get to you, that is the main thing, the more you think about it, the more you are not going to do it.

Q. Do you have any psychological tricks?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: No, not at all. You just want to be able to stand over the ball and not think about anything else other than where you are going to hit it. Then when you find it, try and put it where you want to put it and then pick a line with your putt and if it doesn't go in, it doesn't go in. That's all you can do, just try to simplify things instead of beating yourself up about stuff. That is why I enjoyed it today, because I just got on with it.

Q. Is this a weight off your shoulders?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: Of course, it is a two year exemption, perfect.

Q. Before this, what was your best moment in golf?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: Probably winning the Walker Cup. Tiger was in the team but I didn't personally beat him, him and John Harris beat me and Gordon Sherry in the foursomes.

Q. Different mental approach today?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: No it has been the same for six months.

Q. Belly putter?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: I tried putting with a short putter this year a couple of times but it was unbelievably bad.

Q. Could you have won with a short putter?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: No. Well you never say never, but I feel more confident with the belly putter.

Q. Did the criticism of the belly putter earlier this year upset you?

STEPHEN GALLACHER: No, not at all.

End of FastScripts.

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