European captain Paul McGinley believes that Stephen Gallacher earned his wildcard for the 2014 Ryder Cup by showing consistency throughout the season.
Gallacher, 39, agonisingly missed out on automatic qualification for this month's event at Gleneagles when he came third at the Italian Open last week, where a second-place finish would have guaranteed him his first appearance at the prestigious tournament.
However, McGinley has seen enough in the Scotsman to handpick him, along with Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter, for his 12-man team, and is convinced that the local boy warrants his selection ahead of more experienced names such as Luke Donald and Francesco Molinari.
"He obviously really wants to play a Ryder Cup in his home country and he was under a huge amount of pressure last week," McGinley told Sky Sports News. "Particularly on the second day, he was 14 shots behind the leader, knowing he needed a first or second place finish in order to qualify for the team.
"To push it as close as he did, he just missed out by a fraction to finish third, with David Howell shooting a 63 in the final round.
"He was the number 10 player in the qualifying tables and he had a huge number of top 10s throughout the year, so I felt his form deserved it. I know he's a rookie, and it's always difficult to pick a rookie, but I feel his form has pushed him over the line in that regard."
Gallacher, nephew of former Europe captain Bernard Gallacher, lives 36 miles away from the Gleneagles course.
Joe Fish
