Forrest keen to kick on after first Tour victory
GRANT FORREST has no intention of becoming a ‘Champagne Charlie’ in the wake of his maiden European Tour win at the Hero Open at the Fairmont St Andrews.
But the North Berwick-based 28-year-old reckons he was entitled to party after becoming the first Scot to win on home soil since Paul Lawrie captured the Johnnie Walker title at Gleneagles in 2012.
Unlike Lawrie and Colin Montgomerie, who have often talked about not celebrating their many successes enough, Forrest marked his victory at the home of golf with a huge family bash.
He revealed: ‘I celebrated with plenty of champagne and fell asleep on the couch at 2.30am. When I woke up I was a bit hungover!
‘A lot of times players win in a foreign country, but to win and have all my friends and family there, it would have felt like I missed out if I hadn’t been able to celebrate.’
After being drenched by delighted rivals, including compatriot Calum Hill, on the 18th green last week, Forrest uncorked several bottles of the more traditional bubbly. But he said: ‘It was a nice touch by Calum. He would have been disappointed as he had a chance to win coming into the back nine. So to put that behind him the way he did, tells you what kind of guy he is.
‘I also got a lot of lovely messages and that’s when it sank in.
‘But I’m not getting carried away. Having an exemption is a big thing, but there’s a lot of golf still to be played this season and I’m hoping to use this as a springboard. I need to reset my goals, but I haven’t done that yet. It’s been a mad few days, but we’ll get back to the drawing board soon to plan ahead.
‘A couple of months ago, I wasn’t happy with how things were going and I was starting to think about just keeping my card.
‘But then I started playing better and my result at the Irish Open (tied fourth) gave me a boost.
‘That changed my outlook completely. Now I’m looking at the Race to Dubai final and I can plan around the big events instead of feeling like I have to slave away every week.’
Forrest is playing only his third full season on tour and he reflected: ‘It’s amazing what confidence can do. Once you have belief and you’ve won, you tell yourself you can do it every week.’