One of the best things about this game of fluctuating fortunes is that opportunity always abounds.

Grant Forrest may have been left reflecting on what might have been after losing in the Amateur Championship final at Carnoustie at the weekend but the 22-year-old won't be dwelling on the disappointment too long. There's plenty to look forward to, after all.

Forrest went down 4&2 to the impressive Frenchman, Romain Langasque, in the 36-hole final but he will dust himself down and crack on. This week, he gets the chance to test himself against the up-and-coming campaigners on the second tier of the European professional scene when he competes in the Scottish Hydro Challenge at Spey Valley before he attempts to earn a place at next month's Open Championship in the final qualifying contest at Glasgow Gailes a week on Tuesday.

Yesterday, Forrest was named in Scotland's six-man side for July's European Team Championships in Sweden and there could be more team competition to follow later in the year. His run to the Amateur Championship final will have done his hopes of gaining a call-up to the Great Britain & Ireland team for September's Walker Cup against the USA no harm at all.

"Yes, I was disappointed to have lost but the run to the final has been a big lift to my confidence," admitted Forrest, who had been struggling with his form and his fitness prior to a morale-boosting week in Carnoustie. "I needed something like this as I was a bit low."

How long Forrest stays in the amateur game remains in the lap of the golfing gods. "I will try the European Tour's qualifying school, and possibly the Asian one too, later in the year and then see," he added.

Langasque, meanwhile, will have plenty to ponder. The 20-year-old admitted to the gathered scribblers on Saturday that he had planned joining the paid ranks in three weeks, after representing his country in the European Team Championships. Now that he has earned a tee-time for July's Open Championship, Langasque is delaying that switch but he may yet turn down invitations to next year's Masters and US Open in order to chase the professional dream.

There was something of a French revolution going at Carnoustie last week, with four players from the nation reaching the quarter-finals of the championship, two making it to the semis and Langasque eventually winning it.

They arrived in Angus en masse and there was both quantity and quality. "French golf is getting better and better all the time," suggested Langasque, who is keen to follow in the footsteps of countrymen like Victor Dubuisson and Alexander Levy and make a mark on the main European Tour. "I think the Ryder Cup coming to France in 2018 has been a big help. My objective is to play in a Ryder Cup in my home country. That event coming to France has given all of us the inspiration."

Langasque was certainly inspired during Saturday's final and a succession of raking birdie putts at the eighth, ninth and 10th of the morning's opening 18 holes thrust him into a commanding lead. He was three-up at lunch and, as Forrest toiled through the opening holes of the second round, Langasque eased seven holes clear at one stage. Forrest did mount a spirited rally - a putt of 60-feet across the green for an eagle on the 30th lifted the mood - and the Scot clawed it back to three down with just three to play. Langasque stood firm though and, with Forrest's tee-shot at the 34th dribbling off the green, he whipped a superb 4-iron to within 10-feet to close out the match and become only the third French winner of the Amateur Championship.