Frenchman Romain Langasque is new British Amateur champion
Grant Forrest goes down by 4 and 2 in final
Grant Forrest (Craigielaw) lost by 4 and 2 to Frenchman Romain Langasque in the 36-hole final of the 120th British Amateur Championship final at Carnoustie.
Forrest lived up to the old adage .. "you play your best golf getting to the final and not so well in the final itself."
Bidding to become the second Scot in a row to win the prestigious title - Bradley Neil (Blairgowrie) was the winner 12 months ago - Forrest was three down after 18 holes, having been five down at one stage before lunch.
Any hopes of an afternoon revival died very early in the second round.
The Scot bogeyed the 19th and 20th to go five down. Then his opponent birdied the 21st to go six up.
Forrest bogeyed the 23rd to go seven down and that was it really.
Langasque lost three holes later in the round but it was too little, too late as far as Forrest was concerned.
Never mind, to be the second best player in a capacity field of very good players is no small achievent.
Open place at St Andrews a bonus for Carnoustie winner Romain Langasque
NEWS RELEASE FROM THE RandA
Grant Forrest (Craigielaw) lost by 4 and 2 to Frenchman Romain Langasque in the 36-hole final of the 120th British Amateur Championship final at Carnoustie.
Forrest lived up to the old adage .. "you play your best golf getting to the final and not so well in the final itself."
Bidding to become the second Scot in a row to win the prestigious title - Bradley Neil (Blairgowrie) was the winner 12 months ago - Forrest was three down after 18 holes, having been five down at one stage before lunch.
Any hopes of an afternoon revival died very early in the second round.
The Scot bogeyed the 19th and 20th to go five down. Then his opponent birdied the 21st to go six up.
Forrest bogeyed the 23rd to go seven down and that was it really.
Langasque lost three holes later in the round but it was too little, too late as far as Forrest was concerned.
Never mind, to be the second best player in a capacity field of very good players is no small achievent.
Open place at St Andrews a bonus for Carnoustie winner Romain Langasque
NEWS RELEASE FROM THE RandA
Frenchman Romain Langasque saw off the challenge of Scotland’s Grant
Forrest to win the 120th Amateur Championship at Carnoustie today.
Langasque was in commanding form as he won the 36-hole Final by 4 and 2 and he has secured a place in next month’s 144TH Open
at St Andrews. His victory also gains him a place in next year’s US
Open at Oakmont and, traditionally, an invitation to the Masters
Tournament.
The 20-year-old Frenchman, is a member
of the French Federation's Pole Francais - based at European Tour
Destination Terre Blanche where he works with the European Tour
Performance Institute
He sealed the win on the par three 34th hole when Forrest conceded the hole and the match after his tee shot had gone through the back of the green and his chip coming back went past the hole with Langasque facing a 10ft birdie putt.
He sealed the win on the par three 34th hole when Forrest conceded the hole and the match after his tee shot had gone through the back of the green and his chip coming back went past the hole with Langasque facing a 10ft birdie putt.
Langasque, who hails from Cabris
in southern France, took charge of the early proceedings in the morning
round and won the par four 3rd hole after splashing out from a
greenside bunker to a foot from the hole.
The Frenchman notched up three
consecutive birdies, holing three putts in the 20ft range, from the 8th
hole to go four up and take a grip on the match.
Forrest bogeyed the par
four 11th hole to fall five behind but showed his battling qualities to
bounce back with an excellent drive and approach for an eagle on the
par five 12th to win the hole.
Langasque kept up the pressure and restored his five-hole lead by winning the 14th after Forrest put his drive out of bounds.
Forrest recovered to win the
15th with a birdie and the 16th when Langasque failed to get up and down
with his chip from left of the green. On the 17th, Forrest pulled his
approach into thick rough left of the green and, when he could only find
the edge of the green with his first chip and his next went past the
cup, the hole was lost.
On the 18th, Langasque lost the
hole after driving into a bunker on the right of the fairway and finding
a greenside bunker before hitting his escape out of bounds to the left
of the green. He finished the morning round with a three-hole lead.
In the afternoon round,
Forrest’s hopes of mounting a comeback were severely dented when his
opening drive found a bush in the rough to the left of the fairway and
he lost the hole. He fell further behind when his tee shot again found
the rough on the left on the 20th hole and Langasque birdied the par
four 21st after driving the green.
Langasque moved seven holes ahead on
the 23rd hole, after Forrest missed the green to the left, and things
looked ominous for the Scot.
The Craigielaw player won the
24th with a birdie and the 26th after Langasque found a bunker with his
tee shot. His recovery continued on the 30th hole when he holed a near
60 ft putt for eagle and then on the 32nd when Langasque found a bunker
with his tee shot and then two other bunkers to let Forrest win the hole
with a birdie four.
On the 33rd hole, Langasque hit a
wonderful seven iron shot 190 yards from a fairway bunker on to the
green to ensure the hole was halved and he went on to secure his victory
at the next hole with a precise four iron approach to 10ft.
Langasque becomes the third
Frenchman to win the Amateur Championship after Philippe Ploujoux in
1981 and Julien Guerrier in 2006.
Key quotes
Romain Langasque
“This is just a dream for me. It is just incredible that I am going to play at St Andrews in one month’s time for The Open.
“When I came here I played my
first practice round and played really well at Panmure maybe six or
seven-under-par and then when I played my practice round here at
Carnoustie I was maybe six or seven over so when it came to the first
round I just tried to do my best on every shot.
“I played ok for the first two
rounds and then the more the competition advanced the more I played
well. This morning was my best round of the championship and I played
really well.”
Grant Forrest
“The start this afternoon really killed it for me. Coming back from seven down was always going to be a tall order.
“The bunker on the 15th (the
33rd) is one of the few bunkers on the course you can move the ball
forward from and he hit a great shot. I ended up getting a half. If I
had won that hole then two down with three to play is a lot different.
“This week has been a great
confidence boost for me which is just what I needed at this point. My
confidence was a bit low because I hadn’t been playing well. I am
disappointed not to have won but it is good to see that I can compete in
a championship like this.”
For the full results from the championship please visit championships.randa.org.
Labels: Amateur Men
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