Forrest In A Rout
At Scottish Amateur
DORNOCH, SCOTLAND |
Three weeks
after his father lost his battle with
cancer, Grant Forrest, from Craigielaw,
defeated Richard Docherty by a re-
sounding 9 and 7 in the 36-hole final of
the Scottish Amateur championship. It
was the biggest margin of victory since
Colin Montgomerie crushed Alasdair
Watt by 9 and 8 at Nairn in 1987.
“Three weeks ago,” said the 19-year-
old Forrest, “winning this was not even
in the back of my mind. I just thought I’d
come up here and see what would happen
– and it happened.” His mother, Audrey,
was in tears as her son tied up his title.
As Scottish Amateur finals go, this
was not exactly a vintage edition. There
were nervous beginnings as Forrest,
who had armed himself with a 2-iron,
hit something “very close to a shank”
and the 22-year-old Dougherty hauled
his ball into the left rough.
Forrest, though, got up and down for
a par – it was the kind of thing he would
do all day – and was 4 up after four and
5 up after 14. Docherty came to life with
back-to-back birdies at the 15th and
16th but he lost the 18th to a par to be 4
down at lunch (and round in an approxi-
mate 75 to Forrest’s 71).
Much of the early afternoon play
was in keeping with the lament waft-
ing across the dunes from a piper
practising on the beach for the World
Pipe Band Championships. Chris Ross
hoped he was not disturbing the golf-
ers when, in fact, there was more of a
chance of the golfers disturbing him
with their frequently wayward blows.
only for the official to come up with the
brief rejoinder, “I did.”
In fairness, seeding becomes ever
more difficult in an era when players do
not stay around to hone their amateur
games. For better or worse, many of
them see a single success as enough
in the way of a qualification to switch to
the professional ranks.
In Forrest, however, the SGU have a
player who plans to stay as an amateur
for the three more years he has ahead
of him at the University of San Diego.
“I want to get my degree because
no-one’s guaranteed to make it as a
professional,” he advised.
Docherty, too, knows that he is
far from ready. Having finished at his
American university, all he craves is
a place in a Scottish squad by way of
having another source of funding other
than his parents.
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