“Fairytale stuff”: Grant Forrest’s difficult year ends with Masters and Open tickets

Eleven years ago, Grant Forrest was close to earning a ticket to the Masters. Then a promising Scottish amateur, Forrest reached the final of the 2015 Amateur Championship. A victory would have brought him one of amateur golf’s biggest prizes and a trip to Magnolia Lane. But he lost to Romain Langasque, 4&2, and his Augusta National dream had to wait.

The wait was not expected to be long. Forrest made Europe’s 2015 Walker Cup team and was viewed as one of the continent’s brightest young players. He turned professional, worked his way from the Challenge Tour to the DP World Tour and reached Europe’s top circuit in 2019. His first DP World Tour victory came at the 2021 Hero Open, followed four years later by the 2025 Nexo Championship. Along the way, he played in two Open Championships and one U.S. Open, but never reached Augusta National.

That seemed unlikely to change before this week’s Open de España presented by Madrid. The 2026 season had been one of the toughest of Forrest’s professional career. He had recorded just one top-10 and three top-20 finishes, with his best result a tie for seventh at January’s Bahrain Championship. Since June, he had not finished better than 63rd.

But in golf, four good rounds can change everything. Forrest opened with rounds of 66, 66 and 67 to share the 54-hole lead with Joe Dean. A Sunday victory would be his first DP World Tour win outside Scotland and would earn him spots in the 2027 Masters and The Open.

Forrest struggled early in the final round, going out in 2-over 38 as Eugenio Chacarra and Victor Perez climbed the leaderboard. After another bogey at the 11th, however, he steadied himself. Birdies at the 13th and 14th put him back into a tie for the lead. He reached the driveable par-4 18th in a three-way tie with Perez and Chacarra, who had already posted 13 under.

Forrest’s drive settled in the greenside rough next to Perez’s tee shot. He chipped to five feet, and when Perez missed a nine-foot birdie putt, the opportunity opened. Forrest calmly holed the winning putt, reached 14 under and claimed the title.

“It’s fairytale stuff,” Forrest said of earning spots in the Masters and The 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 had spent the 2026 season trying to find his game and continuing to grind. Sunday in Spain was another difficult test, but he steadied himself and took advantage of a rare opportunity.

“It was tough,” Forrest said. “It was just a matter of keeping yourself in it. I think we did that really well. A 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,” he 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.”

The Open de España victory earned Forrest places in the 2027 Masters and The Open at St Andrews.