FORMER Open champion Paul Lawrie was delivered a Ryder Cup snub last night after being overlooked for a vice-captaincy role in Paul McGinley's European team for this month's clash at Gleneagles.

Aberdonian Lawrie had been widely tipped to be part of a backroom team which also includes Scottish great Sam Torrance.

But McGinley opted to fill the final three places with fellow- Irishman Padraig Harrington and Spanish duo Miguel Angel Jimenez and the 2012 skipper Jose Maria Olazabal.

Lawrie made his Ryder Cup debut at Brookline in 1999 and was one of the heroes of Europe's Miracle of Medinah in Chicago two years ago.

He failed to qualify for this year's team after a loss of form and a series of niggling injuries but Lawrie admitted that he had anticipated playing some kind of role in the first Ryder Cup on Scottish soil in over 40 years.

Lawrie said: "I'm extremely disappointed not to be involved at Gleneagles. I've known for some time my game wasn't up to playing but thought I would have been involved in the backroom team.

"I would like to wish everyone the best of luck and hope Europe do the business again."

Lawrie's countryman, Stephen Gallacher, was handed a wild card for Team Europe on Monday and there were suggestions that Lawrie would be drafted in to act as a mentor to his close friend and Ryder Cup rookie.

Lawrie, a winner over Gleneagles's PGA Centenary course in 2012, added: "I got a text back from Stevie (Gallacher) when I sent him my congratulations on making the team to ask if he could pick my brains some time in the next two weeks which, of course, would be a pleasure. I'm so happy for Stevie to have made it. He's always had the talent."

Gallacher was back at his home club of Bathgate yesterday as the enormity of his achievement continued to sink in.

The West Lothian club has now produced three Ryder Cup players in Gallacher, his uncle Bernard and Eric Brown. And Gallacher senior and Brown also went on to become team captains.

The 39-year-old new boy said: "When we were playing here as juniors, we were thinking about the Ryder Cup. The Ryder Cup is the big thing at this club. Maybe at Deeside it will be The Open, because of Paul Lawrie.

"Your club gets associated with its best accolade. That's what it is here. I think I started golf when I was about two. My dad put my name down to join about 10 minutes after I was born. When he knew it was a boy, he came straight here and put the form in.

"That's what it's like here. My granddad was a member, my gran's brother was a former captain, my dad's been a captain and club champion, Bernard was obviously here and now my son plays here, too.

"Bernard's picture has been up since 1977 and as long as I've been a member here Eric Brown has been up there. To be part of the history of the club is massive."

GALLACHER is now gearing up for the biggest golfing week of his life and the three-time European Tour winner insists he can handle the occasion.

He said: "The Ryder Cup is an outrageously big deal. It has grown and escalated into something amazing. And you know what? I feel ready.

"There would maybe have been years gone by when I wouldn't feel ready for it. But I feel ready for the challenge now."