Why Guinness is behind his eye-catching Irish Open displays for Scottish golfer

Three times in the last four years, the Scot has shone in that event, having tied for fourth in 2021 then finishing joint-fourth last year and now sharing fifth spot with compatriot Bob MacIntyre behind Dane Rasmus Hojgaard in the latest edition at Royal County Down on Sunday.

“It doesn’t seem like it, but it’s definitely been good for me,” confessed Forrest in reply to being asked if it was just a coincidence, but picking up a whopping cheque for around $232,000 on this occasion in one of the DP World Tour’s iconic events was just what the doctor ordered for the 31-year-old.

Having feared he could be looking over his shoulder in the final few weeks of the season in the battle to finish in the all-important top 115 in the Race to Dubai, the effort lifted him 31 spots up to 68th, meaning he’s now chasing berths in the new season-ending Play-Offs instead.

“I don’t know if it’s necessarily the best of the finishes, but it’s probably the most satisfying out of the three,” said Forrest. “I got the wrong side of the draw on Thursday and Friday, which made it a bit tougher.

“I played solidly down the stretch on Friday just to make sure we were there for the weekend. I played really well the whole weekend bar the final four holes on Saturday (dropping five shots). I didn’t do much wrong at all, so it is probably the most fulfilling.

“Obviously the position I was in going into last week, it is certainly the most relieved I’ve felt coming away from a tournament, having been a week where we really got something out of it and to do it in one of the bigger weeks was even better.”

At one point in the final round, it looked as though the 2021 Hero Open winner could set an interesting clubhouse target as overnight leader Rory McIlroy started to open the door a bit for the chasing pack only to bogey the last.

“When you are eight shots behind Rory going into the final round on quite a good weather day, a chance of winning honestly wasn’t even on my mind,” he added.

“The biggest thing was trying to pick myself back up after Saturday’s finish, so that we could go again on Sunday. It felt like a bit of a disaster coming off the course because of all the good work I’d done on the first 14 holes.

“But I had actually stayed in the same position and we just had to turn it round and look at it that way as we hadn’t moved backwards and was still in a position to do something on Sunday and, thankfully, I got it going and had a good day.”

Forrest needs to climb into the top 70 in the Race to Dubai to make the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in November while the top 50 will make the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai the following week.

“It definitely frees you up a bit for the rest of the season and I’m now not having to worry about being out here next year,” he admitted of his timely boost heading into this week’s $9 million Rolex Series event in Surrey. 

“It’s a bit of a weight off your shoulders as you don’t really want to be thinking like that when there’s still so much golf to play, but it is definitely in the back of your mind and, if I you don’t get your finger out and do something, then the pressure just builds every week. I’m now looking forward to what the rest of the season brings now.”