In the kind of procession that should have been accompanied by a royal wave, Alastair Forsyth completed a comprehensive victory in the PGA Professional Championship at Hunstanton last night.
The 43-year-old Scot, who has been in fine form on the domestic Tartan Tour of late, went into the final round holding a colossal 11 shot lead and he preserved his huge advantage to win by that margin after a closing four-under 68.
Forsyth’s formidable 25-under aggregate of 263 earned him the first prize of £10,000 as well as a place in the GB&I PGA Cup team for the biennial transatlantic tussle with the USA in Texas later this season. All in all, then, a productive and profitable week for the recent Northern Open winner.
Despite the yawning gap between himself and his rivals after 54-holes, Forsyth was not counting his chickens heading into the final day. He set about finishing the job off with gusto and birdied the first hole.
A rare bogey on the third was hardly anything to worry about and a haul of four birdies just about had him being carried down the final fairway on a sedan chair.
“I slacked off a wee bit today,” said Forsyth with a smile. “It’s been a great week but it was a strange experience having a lead like that. Today was probably the easiest final round I’ll ever play. I can’t think of having a winning margin such as this in any tournament of this magnitude.
“Sometimes a course fits your eye and this one did. I played it for the first time in a practice round on Monday and really enjoyed it.”
On the prospect of a PGA Cup debut, he added: “I can’t wait. There’s already a real buzz about it. I’m obviously delighted.
“I only qualified as a PGA pro last year so this was the first time I could play in this tournament. The PGA Cup was a goal at the start of the season.
“I’ve played a few times in America. I played in the USPGA several times and the US Open.”
Richard Wallis finished in a distant second place on 274 after a 65 while Stirling’s Craig Lee recovered from a double-bogey on his outward half with an inward half of 30.
That included five birdies in six holes from the 10th en route to a 66 and a third place finish with a 275.
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