Golf: Champ Forrest is the perfect pupil, says coach Porteous

Jonathan Porteous, the head professional at Craigielaw, says it's a joy to work with Forrest, who beat Ian Redford by 3 and 2 in Saturday's 36-hole final at West Kilbride.

The success came just eight months after Forrest also won the Scottish Under-16s Championship at Largs and confirmed his status as one of the emerging stars in the 'Home of Golf'.

"All the hard work has come to fruition," beamed Porteous, who joined a large contingent of Craigielaw members to see Forrest claim his latest triumph on the Ayrshire coast.

"Grant is a clever lad who understands things you are trying to work on – it is easy to teach someone like him, to be honest.

"He was a 12-year-old playing off an eight handicap when he first came to see me and I am delighted to see how much he has come on over the past four years."

Porteous, who coaches EuroPro Tour player Shaun McAllister as well as some of the other promising youngsters at the East Lothian club, added: "There are a lot of good golfers out there but what sets Grant aside is that he's very intelligent and strong mentally.

"He does everything right and is the sort of player you can leave to work on his own as you know he'll be doing the right things.

"To win the Scottish Boys less than a year after winning the Scottish Under-16s is a big step up and hopefully he'll use this as a springboard for the season."

Forrest, a fifth-year pupil at Stewarts Melville, was behind after four holes in the final but got back on level terms at the eighth and was never behind thereafter. He won the 13th and 14th with birdies to go into lunch with a two-hole lead, was briefly back to one up before turning for home with a three-hole advantage.

Due to a lapse in concentration – not surprising really at the end of a week in which he played nine rounds in six days – he lost the tenth after driving out of bounds but steadied himself down after that, producing a superb pitch to half the next hole in birdie-3s.

With Greg Smail, the Craigielaw junior captain on his bag, and Gabrielle MacDonald among the clubmates watching on, Forrest duly sealed a success that saw him follow in the footsteps of Musselburgh's Lee Harper, who won the same event at West Kilbride in 1999. "Grant started playing golf when he was about four," said proud father Graeme, an 11-handicapper at Archerfield Links who watched him every step of the way in Ayrshire and was joined for the final by wife Audrey.

"He used to come along with me to the Kingsfield Driving Range at Linlithgow while he got involved in competition golf initially by playing in the Wee Wonders. That was great and he seemed to have a good swing from the outset."

Forrest, who will still be young enough to defend his title at Dunbar next year, attributed his success to an improved iron game.

"That was one of my weaknesses in the past but it has really improved over the winter and I hit the ball pretty solid in the final," he said.

Gracious loser Redford admitted: "I was beaten by a guy who played better on the day – Grant kept hitting brilliant iron shots."

Forrest was presented with the trophy by SGU President Bert Leslie, who didn't miss the opportunity to say how much pleasure it gave him to be handing it over to a Lothians player!