Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Stephen Gallacher: Why is there no love for golf from Sports Personality of the Year?

Matt Fitzpatrick with the championship trophy after his US Open win in Boston.
Matt Fitzpatrick with the championship trophy after his US Open win in Boston.

Surely I can’t be the only one starting to think there is a bias against golf when it comes to the Sports Personality of the Year?

The BBC’s flagship celebration of all the last 12 months is a perennial favourite among the nation and last night’s show was no exception.

But golf’s continual omission when the big prizes are handed out stopped being a source of amusement a long time ago.

This year was no exception with Matt Fitzpatrick the glaring absence from the shortlist before the show even made it to air.

Matt made the headlines for deciding not to attend the event and his stance now looks utterly justified.

The second Englishman behind Justin Rose to win the US Open in the last 50 years, doing so by playing arguably the best shot of the year, is not even in the running on the night?

It’s as incredible as it is inexplicable.

Is golf’s lack of national coverage the reason it’s being overlooked?

The irony of all of this of course is that Matt is probably getting more column inches given he didn’t get a look-in.

But it is clear golfers simply don’t get any credit for their achievements at all.

I can only assume we’re being overlooked because we’re rarely on terrestrial television.

Sky do a terrific job of promoting the game but it was not their choice to stop showing the Open.

That rests with the national broadcaster themselves. If some highlights during the year are all they are going to show then that’s up to them.

But don’t punish the players for it.

33 years since golf took the top prize

You only have to look at the list of fabulous sporting moments produced which have gone unheralded.

Sir Nick Faldo was the last winner of the award in 1989. I could write a list of fantastic moments which have followed since but here’s a few which have not been rewarded with the recognition they deserve.

Darren Clarke’s Open win in 2011, Rory McIlroy’s stunning season in 2014, Georgia Hall’s British Women’s Open win in 2018 and Rory again this year for topping the order of merit on the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour in the same year.

Add in the Solheim Cup winning team from Gleneagles in 2019 and, of course, Tiger Woods’ fairytale Masters win the same year, neither of which were recognised with the team of the year or overseas personality award respectively, and you can see why some golfers might have a chip on their shoulder.

We’ve had some fantastic moments, comparable with anything you will find in any other sport.

For none of them to be recognised with the top award since Faldo 33 years ago is daft.

It begs the question of what does a golfer have to do to be deemed worthy?

Answers on a postcard, or perhaps it should be a Christmas card given the time of year, because by this point I haven’t got a clue.

Tartan Pro Tour link-up with Challenge Tour is vital

I’m delighted we will still have a pathway in place following the news the Tartan Pro Tour order of merit winner will gain a Challenge Tour card at the end of next season.

When the EuroPro Tour ceased to be I feared the worst but it’s great that Paul Lawrie’s support for the game has been recognised in this way.

I wish there was more than one place on offer but given the Tartan Pro Tour is still in its infancy it can only get bigger and better in the years ahead.

Paul has clearly got strong backers behind with prize money of around £350,000 on offer across the 13 events taking place in 2023.

He has been a terrific supporter of the game and it’s fantastic to see his efforts being recognised.

But the most important people are the players. Everyone matures at their own pace. We don’t all walk on to the DP World Tour from day one. For most, it takes years of graft and progress.

That’s why it is important that pathway remains in place and the Tartan Pro Tour seems the perfect place to take on the mantle of producing the stars of tomorrow.

Could we see the impossible become possible in 2023?

Could Tiger Woods be set to mount another fairytale comeback? Padraig Harrington seems to think so.

It wouldn’t be Christmas without some festive cheer and it is Padraig Harrington who has provided it with his talk about Tiger Woods in the last week.

Padraig has made the bold prediction he expects Tiger to win another major.

It’s not a statement he will have made lightly. As I touched on earlier this month, the numbers don’t lie when it comes to Tiger’s ball speed.

He hasn’t played a lot of golf this year but he is clearly making progress and I expect we’ll see much more of him in 2023.

Do I expect him to play 15 to 20 events? No. But half a dozen, maybe even into double figures? I think that’s entirely possible.

If he does come back to win again – after all he has been through with his car accident – it will trump his Masters win of 2019.

Who knows? It might even lead to him getting an award on Sports Personality of the Year too.

Conversation