Gallacher's tough task as exemption runs out

STEPHEN Gallacher will need to produce his best result in four years at this week's Ballantine's Championship in Korea to take full advantage of his medical exemption and safeguard his European Tour card.

The 35-year-old's 2009 season was curtailed by a debilitating viral infection and he was handed a ten-event exemption for the early part of the current campaign to make up the financial shortfall and retain his playing rights for next year.

The Ballantine's Championship, which starts today on Jeju Island, is the final event of that exemption and former Dunhill Links champion Gallacher, who has made his last six cuts, is currently 125,467 short of the 250,786 total he needs to amass.