Victorious Forrest looks to future

GRANT Forrest, the newly-crowned Scottish Boys' champion, is putting together a golfing CV that will surely earn him a place on one of the top American college teams when he crosses the Atlantic in 18 months' time to start the next phase in his career.

The 16-year-old from Craigielaw, who beat Ian Redford by 3 & 2 in Saturday's 36-hole final at West Kilbride to complete a notable Ayrshire double (having also won the Scottish Under-16s at Largs last summer), is fine-tuning his plans for when he leaves his schooldays at Stewart's Melville behind with prodreamUSA, the company founded by former Walker Cup player Lorne Kelly.

Forrest was down early on against Redford, the 17-year-son of his footballing father Ian, who played for Dundee United in the 1987 Uefa Cup final and also had spells with Rangers and Ipswich Town, but always looked to be in the driving seat after sitting down for lunch with a two-hole cushion. He is open-minded about where he ends up but is aware that college coaches will be sitting up and taking notice of his achievements. "I'm not favouring anywhere in particular at the moment because there are so many good colleges in America," he said.

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"It would be good to get one of the top ones, though, and this (winning the Scottish Boys' Championship] will hopefully be noticed by a few of them as it's a good thing to have on your record."

Coached at Craigielaw by Jonathan Porteous, Forrest, who has added valuable distance to his game thanks to sessions in the gym over the winter, was a worthy winner on the scenic Ayrshire coast, having earned his place in the final by beating Barassie's Jack McDonald, the tournament favourite, in the last four.

The finalists enjoyed idyllic conditions from the opening blow right through to the last putt. While the showdown wasn't a classic, due mainly to the fact both players had off days on the greens, Forrest's ball striking, particularly with his mid to long irons, and Redford's driving made for compelling enough viewing.

Forrest, who revealed afterwards that he'd stayed in his lucky hotel – the one he was in for the aforementioned Scottish Under-16s event – in Largs on Friday night, will be eligible to defend his title at Dunbar next April but has a lot of golf to play between now and then.

This morning both he and Redford are off down to Copt Heath in Solihull for the McEvoy Trophy and then, on Saturday and Sunday, they're back up at Newmachar for the first-ever 72-hole event on the SGU Junior Tour. When you take into account the duo played nine rounds in six days at West Kilbride, it's an exhausting schedule and, what's more, they've also got school exams coming up.

While Redford's immediate reaction to falling at the final hurdle was to kick a wall, which he instantly regretted, the likeable Madras College pupil admitted there were certainly positives for him to take from the week.

"When I first played this event, I hated match play so much – my record was terrible," he said. "But to have progressed each year and, on this occasion, get to the final is definitely a positive as I see my game is improving."

Watched by his father, Redford was left to rue three good birdie chances right at the start of the final and started to fear it wasn't going to be his day as early as the ninth, where his tee shot hit the pin and dropped to three feet only for him to miss the putt. "That was the story of my day – I holed absolutely nothing," he said.

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