Talk about a finishing flourish. With the kind of late dip for the line you’d get in the 100-metre dash, Grant Forrest burst away from the pack on day three of the Nexo Championship at the Trump International Golf Links.
In this game, of course, it’s a marathon not a sprint. “There’s still a long way to go,” said a cock-a-hoop yet cautious Forrest after the Scot opened up a three-stroke lead in his quest for the second DP World Tour title of his career.
On a windswept, topsy-turvy day, which was as lively as Trump’s own hair in the turbulence of his own helicopter’s rotors, Forrest rallied on the run-in with a decisive thrust that could’ve featured a rapier.
Three birdies on his last five holes, including two crackers on 17 and 18, gave the halfway leader a battling one-under 71 for an eight-under aggregate and a decent advantage over Todd Clements, Kristoffer Reitan and Daan Huizing.
On this treacherous course, with menace and mischief lurking at every turn, anything can happen so it’s understandable that Forrest was remaining wary.
Look, for instance, what happened to one of his playing partners in the final group, Jordan Smith. At one point of the third round, the Englishman had inched into the lead but his assault unravelled on the closing eight holes.
Smith leaked a shot on 11, dropped another on 15 then staggered home with double-bogeys at both the 17th and 18th in a ruinous 78 that saw him plummet down to a level-par total.
While Smith imploded, Forrest was inspired. Well, eventually. The 32-year-old had to dig deep on a testing day as he slipped off the summit with bogeys at the eighth and 10th.
“I was lucky to escape with a six on 10 and then I settled down a little bit,” said Forrest of that important exercise in damage limitation.
Forrest didn’t just settle down, he saddled up and made a charge. A five-footer for birdie on the 14th was the prelude to his grandstand finish.
He knocked in a 16-footer for another gain on the 17th before trundling home a delightfully judged 20-footer on the last to close with aplomb.
The pump of the fist underlined the significance of the moment. The little encirclement of young autograph hunters around the green, meanwhile, gave him something else to sign before his card.
It was a good day’s work. There’s plenty of work still to do but Forrest, who has endured a fairly frustrating season, is on course for a first title since he claimed the Hero Open in St Andrews back in 2021.
More of the same will do nicely. “I’m pretty happy with my gameplan so far and if it’s similar conditions on the final day, then it will just be about getting the ball in play off the tee and hitting greens and remaining patient,” said the former Scottish Amateur champion of a strategy that has kept him, by and large, on the straight and narrow over the last three days.
“I’ve only led once before, and I ended up winning. But I’m just going to take it one shot at a time.”
As gusts of 25mph – just a zephyr in these parts – whipped over the links, Forrest’s other playing partner, Richard Sterne, was, like Smith, blown off course too.
The day one leader suffered a desperate run around the turn as he spilled seven shots on his way to a 76 for a level-par aggregate.
While Smith and Sterne toiled, there were plenty of others who prospered and kept themselves lurking in the chasing pack.
Huizing, the 34-year-old Dutchman who had a terrific track record in links golf during his days as one of the world’s best amateurs, posted a sturdy 70 to keep himself in it at five-under.
A double-bogey on the seventh saw him lose ground on the frontrunners but a haul of four birdies on his remaining holes repaired the damage.
His birdie on the 17th was quite something. Well left off the tee, and in tangly rough with the ball above his feet, Huizing swiped one out to within 10-feet and holed the putt.
“I hit an incredible shot on 17 and when I was standing over my approach I pictured the shot in my head and it came out exactly how I wanted,” he said of that recovery.
“To make the putt and walk away with birdie after my tee shot was a great feeling.
“Anything under par in these conditions is very good. If you make a mistake, it’s important to accept it and move on and that has worked very well for me. I must keep reminding myself that I’m playing well and I can bounce back with birdies.”
Clements, a former English Amateur champion who earned his first DP World Tour win at the Czech Masters two years ago, illuminated his 69 with an eagle-two on the driveable fifth after launching his tee-shot to tap-in distance.
“It was one of those days when golf showed its true teeth,” he said of the growling links. “I holed some good putts and got lucky at times out there, but I’m delighted with my work.
“You must really stick in there as it tests you mentally. But I enjoy the challenge of links golf, and I feel like it really suits my game.”
Reitan, the third member of the chasing pack, packed six birdies into his 68 as the Norwegian kept himself in contention for a second DP World Tour win.
“My golf has not necessarily been perfect, but I've just navigated my way around and today I hit some better approach shots, which helps a lot,” said the 27-year-old.
“I played the Scottish Open and The Open but this is a different type of wind. It's just so much stronger and takes some getting used to.”
Reitan continues to get used to it, though. As for the frontrunning Forrest? Well, it’s suiting him to a tee. So far, so good.
