Eleven years ago, Grant Forrest had a ticket to the Masters in his grasp. Then a Scottish amateur star on the rise, Forrest reached the final of the 2015 Amateur Championship. A victory meant not only one of the biggest prizes in amateur golf, but also a trip to Magnolia Lane. But a 4-2 loss to Romain Langasque meant Forrest’s Augusta National dream would have to wait.
The wait was not long. Forrest made the 2015 Walker Cup squad and was expected to be one of Europe’s brightest stars. But golf had other plans. Forrest turned professional and worked his way from the Challenge Tour to the DP World Tour, finally reaching the top European circuit in 2019. His first DP World Tour victory came at the Hero Open 2021. His next one came four years later at the Nexo Championship 2025. Along the way, Forrest played in two Open Championships and a US Open, but he never played well enough to reach Augusta National.
It seemed unlikely that Forrest would reach golf’s hallowed grounds in 2027. His DP World Tour season was one of the toughest of his professional career. He entered this week’s Open de España presented by Madrid having posted just one top-10 and three top-20 finishes on the season. His best finish was a T7 at the Bahrain Championship in January. He had not finished better than 63rd since June.
It was a lost year for Forrest, but he still had the chance to do something special this week in Madrid. In golf, all it takes is four good rounds to change everything.
He opened with rounds of 66-66-67 to share the 54-hole lead with Joe Dean. A triumphant Sunday would mark his first DP World Tour victory away from Scottish soil and earn him spots in the 2027 Masters and Open Championship. But Forrest struggled out of the gate on Sunday, going 2-over 38 while Eugenio Chacarra and Victor Perez topped the rankings. But resilience has been the theme of a trying season for Forrest, so after another bogey on the 11th, he buckled down to give himself a chance at the win of a lifetime. He birdied 13 and 14 to climb into a tie for the lead and reached the driveable par-4 18th in a three-way tie at the top of the table with Perez and Chacarra, who had already placed 13 under.
Forrest’s drive nestled in the greenside rough right next to Perez’s tee ball. Forrest played his chip to five feet, and when Perez missed a nine-foot birdie attempt, the door opened for Grant Forrest to finally reach Augusta National – a chance he took when he calmly rolled in his winning birdie putt to get to 14 under and claim the title.
“It’s fairy-tale stuff,” Forrest said of earning spots in the Masters and Open at St. Andrews. “To go to Augusta, I can’t get my head around it. I was close to the Amateur Championship 11 years ago now. But you can have a great career in this game and never get to Augusta, so just – I can’t believe it.
Forrest spent all of 2026 in the desert, struggling to find his game, but he promised to grind. In golf, things are rarely as good or as bad as they seem. There was little reason to expect it all to come together this week in Spain, and things looked to be unraveling at points on Sunday as he slipped down the standings. But with a rare opportunity in front of him, Forrest steadied the ship and played well enough to get to a place he always wanted his game to take him.
“It was tough,” Forrest said. “It was just a matter of keeping yourself in it. I thought we did really well. Couple of good putts at the right time and just dug in so well despite a couple of frustrating things.
“I’m in shock, honestly,” Forrest added, “Just pure shock. It’s been such a tough year. I haven’t played well. I haven’t played well… To walk away with a win is just unbelievable.”
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