Three-time Ryder Cup Captain, Bernard Gallacher OBE, has been presented with the 2014 Confederation of Professional Golf Lifetime Achievement Award at the Association’s flagship event, the Annual Congress Gala Awards Dinner supported by Rolex.
The Lifetime Achievement Award looks to recognise an individual’s exceptional achievements in golf and Gallacher’s outstanding career from early beginnings as a PGA professional, an exemplary tournament record including eight Ryder Cup appearances as a player and three as a Captain, and more recently charitable work focusing on the well-being of golfers across the UK with the provision of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) at golf clubs.
“It was an honour to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award and follow in the footsteps of last years recipient and friend Tony Jacklin,” explained Gallacher. “I have always considered myself a club professional who also plays tournament golf.”
The Annual Congress is a yearly gathering of representatives from across the Confederation of Professional Golf’s 36 member countries and gives an opportunity for the sharing of ideas and knowledge:
“The Annual Congress is an important event for the development of golf in Europe,” said Gallacher. “The awards evening highlighted the good work done by normally unheralded hard working professionals from all over the continent.”
Gallacher’s golfing career started in the early 60s and it was not long before he began picking up trophies including the Lothians Golf Association Boys Championship In 1965 followed by the 1967 Scottish Amateur Open Stroke Play Championship.
He turned Professional that same year and immediately took home the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award in 68, and then became the youngest man to represent Great Britain in the Ryder Cup at the 1969 matches at Royal Birkdale, UK.
From there his Ryder Cup career spiralled with a total of eight playing appearances and then three captaincies including the a 14.5 to 13.5 victory on opposition soil at Oak Hill Country Club, USA.
Gallacher’s PGA roots were never far away though as he was the club Professional at Wentworth Golf Club from 1975 until 1996, the same year he was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE).
More recently in August 2013, Gallacher suffered a sudden cardiac arrest whilst speaking at an evening function near Aberdeen, UK. If it was not for the immediate action of staff with CPR training and an AED being on site at the hotel then his story may have panned out differently.
Using his personal experience as a catalyst along with the help of the PGA of Great Britain & Ireland and UK-based charity, Arrhythmia Alliance, Gallacher launched a Defibrillator campaign to support the placement of AEDs in golf clubs across the United Kingdom to give access to life-saving equipment in the event of sudden cardiac arrests.
Find out more about all of 2014’s Award Winners here: http://eur.pe/2014AnnualCongress.
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For more information and news visit the Annual Congress Hub Page (http://eur.pe/2014AnnualCongress), follow @PGAsofEurope on Twitter and search the hashtag ‘#AnnualCongress’ or like the Confederation of Professional Golf Facebook Page.
The 2014 Annual Congress Gala Awards are supported by Rolex and the Ryder Cup European Development Trust and hosted by Gloria Hotels & Resorts – for more information on the event partners visit http://eur.pe/2014AnnualCongress.
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