IT'S that time of the year again to dig out the dickie bow, brush down the dinner suit and give your shoes a spit and polish in preparation for the Scottish Golf Awards, which takes place this Friday night at the Corn Exchange in Edinburgh.
For the first time, The Herald and Herald Scotland, will be the official media partners for a glitzy, all-singing, all-dancing bash and with a fine tradition of covering this Royal & Ancient game at all levels, spanning the amateur scene to the upper echelons of the professional game, the association between this newspaper and the Scottish Golf Awards is particularly suitable.
More than 600 tickets have been sold, although there are still a few seats available for an event that will be attended by well-kent faces from both the golfing world and the wider sporting community. Stephen Gallacher, Sam Torrance, Bernard Gallacher, Des Smyth and Catriona Matthew are on a glittering guest list that also includes Gordon Strachan, the Scotland football team manager, Olympic curler David Murdoch and Gregor Townsend, the Glasgow Warriors head coach.
Amid the plethora of awards that will be handed out during an evening that celebrates all that is good about Scottish golf, from the achievements of the nation's top performers on the global stage to those devoted volunteers who do so much valuable, unseen work at the grassroots, the big prize on the night will be the Player of the Year award.
Over the coming days, we will take a brief look at the runners and riders for the gong on a rich and varied list that includes the likes of Gallacher, Kylie Walker and Bradley Neil. The 2014 campaign in Scotland was always going to be dominated by the staging of the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles and Gallacher ensured that the home galleries had one of their own to cheer at the biennial battle with the USA as he earned a wild card for Paul McGinley's European team.
His victory in the Dubai Desert Classic early in the season had Scottish golf fans daring to dream as he upped his qualifying bid for a place in the first Ryder Cup in Scotland for 41 years. It would go right to the wire, of course. Gallacher's barnstorming finish in the Italian Open, the final counting event, saw him finish third, just one place shy of the second place he needed to qualify automatically. McGinley had already seen enough, though. A couple of days later, Gallacher was handed a thoroughly deserved captain's pick.
While Gallacher shimmered on the European Tour, Blairgowrie teenager Bradley Neil underlined his considerable potential by winning the Amateur Championship at Royal Portrush as he became the first Scot, since Stuart Wilson in 2004, to win the unpaid game's biggest prize.
A winner of the Scottish Boys' Championship in 2013, Neil's development has been mightily impressive. Next month, he will compete alongside Gallacher and the world's best in the Masters at Augusta as a reward for winning the Amateur Championship.
Will he be going there as Player of the Year? All will be revealed on Friday and tomorrow we will look at the rest of the contenders for the main prize at Scottish golf's big night.
Tickets available at www.scottishgolf.org
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