Pro’s hard year ends with unlikely ticket to 2027 Masters: ‘Fairytale stuff’ | News
Eleven years ago, Grant Forrest had a ticket to the Masters in his grasp. Then a budding Scottish amateur star, Forrest reached the finals of the 2015 Amateur Championship. A win meant not only one of amateur golf’s biggest prizes 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 wasn’t expected to be long. Forrest made the 2015 Walker Cup team and was expected to be one of Europe’s bright young stars. But golf had other plans. Forrest turned pro and worked his way up from the Challenge Tour to the DP World Tour, finally reaching the top European circuit in 2019. His first DP World Tour win arrived at the 2021 Hero Open. His next came four years later at the 2025 Nexo Championship. Along the way, Forrest played in two Open Championships and one U.S. Open, but 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 has been one of the toughest of his pro career. He entered this week’s Open de España presented by Madrid having posted just one top-10 and three top-20s on the season. His best finish was a T7 at the Bahrain Championship in January. He hadn’t finished better than 63rd since June.
It was a lost year for Forrest, but he still had a 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 win 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 out in 2-over 38 as Eugenio Chacarra and Victor Perez rose up the leaderboard. But resilience has been the theme of a trying season for Forrest, so after another bogey at 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 arrived at the driveable par-4 18th in a three-way tie atop the board with Perez and Chacarra, who had already posted 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 get to 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 fairytale stuff,” Forrest said of earning spots in the Masters and Open at St. Andrews. “To be going to Augusta, I can’t get my head around it. I was close in the Amateur Championship 11 years ago now. But you can have a great career in this game and never get to go to Augusta, so I just — I cannot believe it.
Forrest spent his entire 2026 in the wilderness, struggling to find his game but vowing to grind it out. 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 lo looked bleak at points on Sunday as he slid down the leaderboard. But with a rare opportunity in front of him, Forrest steadied the ship and played well enough to reach a place he’s always wanted his game to take him.
“It was tough,” Forrest said. “It was just a matter of keeping yourself in it. I think we did that really well. Couple of nice putts at the right time and just dug in there so well despite a couple of frustrating things.
“I’m in shock, honestly,” Forrest added, “Just pure shock. It has been such a tough year. I just have not played well. Not played well at all… To walk away with a win is just unbelievable.”
