After the year that Scottish sport has just had, 2015 has a pretty impossible act to follow.
There will never again be a home Ryder Cup and home Commonwealth Games in the same year, and a St Johnstone cup win was a nice added bonus! The only thing that could have made it even better would have been Scotland taking part in the football World Cup in Brazil.
But, there’s still plenty to get excited about over the next 12 months.
For the first time in ages there seems to be genuine belief that we’ve got a top rugby coach in Vern Cotter, and that there’s the potential of a decent team. People will be looking forward to the Six Nations more than they have in years, and if that goes well, it will carry into the Rugby World Cup.
As ever after a Tiger Woods injury, we all want to see if he can get back near to his best. I can’t see it myself, but it would be great for the game to see him challenging. And can Rory McIlroy complete his career grand slam at Augusta? He’ll definitely be the favourite.
I’m really looking forward to going to my first St Andrews Open, and if it could be Tiger v Rory on the Sunday, that would do very nicely.
* It’s been great to be able to spend some family time back home in Blair Atholl and then down south, but I’ve not let myself go too much because the New Year kicks off with a big curling event next week.
The Continental Cup is our version of the Ryder Cup, and the format has been tweaked a bit this year which should make it even more intense than usual.
Previous ones have been North America v the Rest of the World but this year it’s much more like the Ryder Cup because it’s just Canada v Europe.
It’s in Calgary and I know for a fact that the Canadians will make it a really intimidating atmosphere. I love all that, though. The more competitive, the better!
Scotland has done really well to get four major curling competitions over here in the next few years, but it would be brilliant if the Continental Cup could be the next one.
I’m sure the public would get into it.
Last year it was in Vegas, which was amazing (they got me to pipe the cup in at the start of the event!) But after what I saw during the Commonwealth Games, a packed SSE Hydro would top it.
As far as this year goes though, we want to win the trophy, keep the Canadians quiet and get the first bragging rights for 2015.