Scottish Boys: Forrest fires up to land title double

MORE than 20 years after Fifer Colin Fraser achieved the feat, Craigielaw's Grant Forrest became the first player to hold the Scottish Under-16s and Boys' Match Play titles simultaneously when he claimed the latter with a 3 and 2 victory over Ian Redford in yesterday's final at West Kilbride.

On an idyllic day in Ayrshire, Forrest, who secured the under-16s crown at Largs last summer, continued his love affair with this particular stretch of coast thanks to a steady if unspectacular display in the 36-hole title showdown. With father Ian, the former Rangers and Dundee United midfielder, among those watching on, Redford, a 17-year-old from St Andrews New, got his nose in front after just four holes in the morning round but, after levelling matters at the eighth, Forrest was never headed again.

He birdied both the 13th and 14th, holing from inside ten feet on both occasions, and tucked into his lunch with a two-hole cushion.

On the resumption, Redford won the 20th with a birdie but Forrest, a fifth-year pupil at Stewart's Melville in Edinburgh, won two of the next three holes to go three up. While Redford twice managed to cut the deficit to two holes, the Madras College pupil will look back on this as a missed opportunity, mainly because his putting touch deserted him on the day.

"The fact I've completed the double is sinking in slowly," said Forrest, who was one-under-par for the 34 holes and will be eligible to defend his title at Dunbar in a year's time.