Grant Forrest earns major invites with Spanish Open win

Spanish Open

-14 G Forrest (Sco); -13 E Chacarra (Spa), V Perez (Fra); -12 J Skov Olesen (Den); D Brown (Eng), J Dean (Eng)

Selected others: -10 L Aberg (Swe); -8 S Lowry (Ire); -7 M Penge (Eng), F Molinari (Ita)

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Scotland’s Grant Forrest held off a charge from home favourite Eugenio Chacarra to win the Spanish Open and book a spot at The Open and the Masters next year.

With Chacarra in the clubhouse at 13 under, Forrest and playing partner Victor Perez needed to make birdies at the 18th to go above the Spaniard.

Both players’ drives nestled down in the greenside rough on the 322-yard par four, and after Perez’s birdie putt drifted past the hole, Forrest sunk his to seal his third DP World Tour title and a first professional win outside Scotland.

“I’m in pure shock just now,” Forrest said. “It’s been such a tough year. I’ve got good memories of this course and this tournament. To do it is unbelievable.

“It was tough. I wasn’t too sure what other groups were doing. It was a matter of staying in it. I dug in so well.

“That’s fairytale stuff, I’ve played two Opens and to be going to Augusta, I just can’t get my head round it. You can have a great career in this game and never get to go to Augusta, so I cannot believe it.”

Going into the final round in a share of the lead with England’s Joe Dean on 13 under, Forrest birdied the fourth, but made bogeys at three, six and eight as he dropped two shots off the top.

However, Forrest showed excellent resilience and moved back into a share of the lead as he started his back nine with three birdies and a bogey in five holes.

And he got the job done with a tidy up-and-down at the last to card a closing one-under 70 and take home the £480,000 first prize.