IAN Rae, one of the home of golf's leading coaches, has highlighted the importance to Scottish golf of identifying figureheads in the professional game who are exempt for the most prestigious tournaments and can act as inspirational figures for others. "We want people in Scotland to feel enthused about the game," he said.
When the Andalucia Open gets under way in Seville today, Colin Montgomerie, playing in his 500th European Tour event, will tee off as the highest placed Scot, 137th, in the world rankings. Alastair Forsyth, 155th, Paul Lawrie, 161st, Gary Orr, 211th
, Richie Ramsay, 224th, Stephen Gallacher, 267th, and Marc Warren, 294th, are others in the top 300.
Rae, the national coach for the Scottish Golf Union's elite amateur players as well as coach to Forsyth, Warren, Ramsay and Callum Macaulay, believes the absence of any Scots from the top 100 and the two most recent World Championship events, as well as the lone invitation from Augusta sent to Sandy Lyle for next month's Masters, hurts Scotland's standing in the global game.
"There are some great Scottish golfers out there, but we do need stronger performances to get Scotland highlighted once more in the world's top 50," he said. "It's absolutely true that we are missing out on that at the moment. When you look at some of the other golfing countries, they don't have any more players represented on Tour than we do (there are 13 Scots competing this week in Seville].
"But what they do have is flag carriers. We had Colin Montgomerie for so long and now we don't have anyone in the top 100. We need players such as Paul Lawrie, Alastair Forsyth, Stephen Gallacher and the rest of the guys to be in that top 100, competing at the thick end all the time, with one or two then pushing on into the top 50.
"If that happens, then when the majors and the World Championship events come around we've got players who are straight in there. We need them to do that, because we want people in Scotland to feel enthused about the game.
"There's no doubt when the Ryder Cup is held at Gleneagles in 2014 we want a Scot in the European team. I think we have a pretty good chance. Richie Ramsay is starting out on Tour this year and Callum Macaulay, who has as good a shout as anyone, is already showing what he can do."
Rae agrees there are extenuating circumstances surrounding the struggles of Scotland's professionals to make an impact at a time when the game's global reach has never been more extensive.
"It's more difficult to make your mark now in world golf than it once was because so many countries are producing top players," he added.
"The USA was once the dominant force in world golf, but they're not even dominant on their own Tour any more. If you look beyond Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, there are so many nationalities competing on the PGA Tour."
On the European Tour, in spite of a slump in recent seasons, Scotland is still the third-most successful golf nation with 125 wins after Spain's 149 and England's 240. Monty contributed nearly 25 per cent of those victories and feels at 45 he can re-emerge as a force this year.
"I plan to continue being Scotland's flag carrier, with all due respect to everyone else," he said. "I will be very disappointed if I don't win this year."
At the other end of the age spectrum, Macaulay, 25, caught the eye when he finished runner-up on Sunday at the Madeira Islands Open. The rookie pro, who was part of the three-man Scottish side which won the world amateur team championship last year, has all the qualities required to win European Tour events, according to Rae.
"If Callum gets on with his normal game, then he can compete on Tour, no problem," said the coach. "The result in Madeira proved that. He drives the ball straight and decently long. He's tremendous in windy conditions. I think that closing 64 has proved to him how good he is and he'll take a lot of confidence from that performance.
"He's gained belief in himself and gets on well with people. Although he's new on Tour, he's an easy-going type who makes friends easily. That will be a big help. It's always difficult to say if anyone will definitely make it, but if Callum keeps on doing what he's doing, making slight improvements all the time, he can achieve what he wants.
"I don't think he's frightened of winning. For me, he could easily go on to become a multi-tournament winner in his career.
"I keep telling him he doesn't have to change from his amateur days. He was producing low numbers before. The courses haven't changed, he's not changed, the only difference is he's playing with a different group of guys."
