Grant Forrest avoided a three-way play-off by rolling in a four-foot birdie putt on the 18th at Real Club de Campo Villa de Madrid to win the Open de Espana by a single stroke. The Scot closed with a 70 to finish on 14 under, one ahead of Spain’s Eugenio Chacarra and France’s Victor Perez.
The victory is Forrest’s third on the DP World Tour and his first outside Scotland. It also carries a significant reward, with the 33-year-old now assured of places at next year’s Masters and The Open. Afterwards he admitted he was “in shock, honestly, pure shock just now”, explaining that he had endured a difficult year in which his form had deserted him and that leaving Madrid with the trophy felt unbelievable.
Forrest began the final day sharing a one-shot lead with England’s Joe Dean, but his round swung back and forth. He made four bogeys to go with five birdies on an afternoon when the lead changed hands several times. He arrived on the closing hole level with Chacarra and Perez on 13 under, with extra holes looking likely. His fifth birdie of the day, from four feet, settled it and spared him a play-off against two rivals who had both finished their rounds strongly.
Chacarra gave the home crowd plenty to cheer. He birdied the second, third and fourth to move into a share of the lead, then added an eagle at the seventh and a birdie at the eighth before picking up another shot at the last. Perez, who started one behind on 12 under, birdied the 16th and 17th to join a four-way tie at the top with two holes left but could only par his way home. Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen also reached the final hole on 13 under, only to bogey it and finish fourth on his own.
Dean’s challenge faded late on. After dropping shots at the second and 12th and recovering them at the fourth and 15th, he bogeyed the 16th and 17th and ended in a tie for fifth. He shared that spot with Northallerton’s Daniel Brown, who produced the round of the day. Brown birdied each of the last five holes for a bogey-free back nine of 29, collecting nine birdies in all on his way to a 64.
