FORREST WILL FACE LANGASQUE IN THE AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

NEWS RELEASE BY THE RandA

Craigielaw's 2012 Scottish amateur champion Grant Forrest will face Romain Langasque of France in tomorrow’s 36-hole Final of the 120th Amateur Championship at Carnoustie.

Forrest defeated another Frenchman, Alexandre Daydou, by 4 and 2 to secure his place in the Final against Langasque, who saw off the challenge of Ayrshire's  Jack McDonald at the 19th hole.

Forrest, winner of the St Andrews Links Trophy last year and

 celebrating his 22nd birthday today, got off to an ideal start in the first semi-final against Alexandre Daydou, holing a 15ft birdie putt on the 1st green to win the hole. He extended his lead with another birdie at the 3rd and, although the Frenchman won the next, the Craigielaw player restored his lead with a birdie three at the 5th.

Despite incurring a penalty for stepping on his ball on the 6th hole, Forrest was able to get up and down from a bunker for a half. He played steadily from there to maintain his lead, moving three ahead at the 11th, and clinched a 4 and 2 win at the 16th.

Forrest’s friend McDonald was involved in a closely fought contest with Langasque where there was never more than one hole between them in the match. 

 On the 17th the 20-year-old Frenchman found the burn which cost him the hole and left him one down on the 18th. After both players reached the green in three McDonald missed a 10 ft putt and left Langasque with a 7 ft par putt which he confidently holed to stay in the match.

On the 19th hole, Langasque, who won the Southern Cross Invitational in Argentina in March, found the green in two and holed a 3ft putt for a par which was enough to win the hole and the match as McDonald failed to get up and down from left of the green.

Forrest, who recently completed his four years of studies at the University of San Diego, now has the opportunity to follow Bradley Neil, who won at Royal Portrush last year, and achieve back-to-back Scottish victories in the Amateur Championship, while Langasque could become only the third Frenchman to win the Amateur and the first since Julien Guerrier in 2006.

In the Quarter-Finals, McDonald enjoyed a convincing 6&5 win over the last Englishman in the field Sean Towndrow while Forrest showed his grit to come out on top against fellow Scot Marchbank.

Trailing for most of the match, Marchbank won three consecutive holes from the 14th, which he eagled, and was two up with two to play. Forrest was not to be denied, however, winning the 17th and the 18th with a par when Marchbank’s 4ft par putt stayed out. The match went to the 19th, which was halved in par, before Forrest sealed the win with a birdie three on the 20th.

Daydou won the first of the two all-French Quarter-Finals by 3 and 2 against Antoine Rozner and Langasque defeated Robin Sciot-Siegrist by two holes.

Key quotes

Grant Forrest

“I got off to a good start. If you had told me back in the States that I would I be in the Final I would have said ‘no way’. I have been struggling with my game in the last couple of months but I have been working hard and have managed to find my game again this week which has been great. Scottish amateur golf is really strong this year and it’s great to see.”

Romain Langasque

“I’m so happy to reach the Final. Tomorrow I am going to have a lot of support from the federation and the people here for me so I just want to be on the first tee and play well.

“I’m going to try and sleep well tonight.  Tomorrow I’m going to have fun and see if I win or lose but enjoy it. For my future career to win this championship would be incredible.”

For the full results and live scoring from the Final please visit championships.randa.org.