Forsyth defends efforts of Scottish pros

FROM THE SCOTSMAN WEBSITE
By Martin Dempster
Alastair Forsyth believes Scotland's top professionals are being criticised unfairly due to the fact it is harder than ever for them to make their presence felt at the top of leaderboards on the European Tour.
"As usual, there's a lot getting said about how we are not performing and should be doing better," said Forsyth, a two-time Tour winner, ahead of his opening round in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles.
"I suppose that's a fair point because we do have a lot of good players who are maybe not performing as they can – and my form has certainly not been good of late. But I think there is too much being said about it as it boils down to two things in my opinion.
"One is the fact we haven't replaced Monty, Europe's No1 for a long time, or even Sandy Lyle or Sam Torrance for that matter. And the other is that it was a hell of a lot easier to win on Tour back then – and that's not taking anything from those players."
According to Forsyth, the standard is so good at the top level these days that, in every event, almost three-quarters of the players in the field have a chance of walking away with the title.
"In a field of 156, I would say that 120 of those could win the tournament," he added. "There are even guys I have never heard of before – the likes of Jeppe Huldahl, who won in Wales earlier this year, for example – winning tournaments now."
Forsyth is among 23 Scots in this week's field at Gleneagles, the European Tour regulars being joined by the likes of Tartan Tour players Craig Lee, Jason McCreadie and David Orr, the latter having won the Scottish PGA Championship over the same course this year.
Jamie McLeary, who won the Scottish Challenge at Spey Valley this month, has also secured a rare start on the main Tour.
*The full article above appears in The Scotsman newspaper today.