Four-time winner Stephen Gallacher is back on the DP World Tour after a remarkable administrative error saw him wrongly lose his card for six months.

The DP World Tour has issued an “unreserved apology” to the 48-year-old Scot, who has played just a handful of their tournaments on sponsor invites and Challenge Tour events in the last six months having thought he’d lost his card.

Gallacher finished 173rd on the Race To Dubai last season to seemingly lose his playing privileges, until it was recently discovered that he in fact should have kept his card due to his standing on the Career Money List.

After over 600 DP World Tour starts, Gallacher went back to Q-School last year for the first time since 2009, but failed to make it through so was convinced he’d lost his status.

However, the 2014 Ryder Cup winner has now been fully reinstated on the DP World Tour, and has also received an exemption for 2024 by way of further apology and to make up for the time he’s missed out on this year.

“I am really delighted at today’s news, and I am very pleased how the DP World Tour has handled the matter once they realised that the mistake had been made,” Gallacher said in a statement on his management company Bounce’s website.

“The past six months have been hard, and sitting on the sidelines watching Tour events is no substitute from playing in them. 

I'LL BE BACK....🖐🏼It's an immediate and dramatic return to @DPWorldTour front line for @stevieggolf 🤺His category has been elevated on the back of administrative error 🎟 We go again....👊🏽Full story 👀👇🏽May 10, 2023

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"I am as competitive now as I have always been, and from Qualifying School, to last minute DP World Tour invitations, through to Challenge Tour events, my ambition and desire to get back playing and winning has never wavered.

“I am still hugely motivated and I can now plan my schedule for the rest of this campaign to try to secure my card back based purely on my results on the course.”

Gallacher is playing on the DP World Tour this week in Belgium at the Soudal Open before he can now plan on getting stuck into the summer tournaments.