Ras Al Khaimah: Watch out! The Scots are coming.
After 33 gruelling tournaments on the Challenge Tour, Scotland secured four of the European Tour cards on offer at the season-ending Ras Al Khaimah Challenge Tour Grand Final, which are given to the top 15 finishers over the course of the campaign.
Grant Forrest, Robert MacIntyre, Liam Johnston and David Law fell into that category on a thrilling weekend in the northern emirate, where Spaniard Adri Arnaus won the event and Denmark’s Joachim Hansen topped the Road rankings.
Slightly further down the list, there were Saltires littered across the board as the Celtic quartet landed the coveted Tour cards alongside competitors from Portugal, Sweden and the United States.
Grant Forrest, who finished seventh in the rankings after a 10th-place finish in RAK, is sure that this can signal greater things for Scotland — the home of golf — after years in the wilderness following the achievements of greats such as Sandy Lyle, Sam Torrance and Colin Montgomerie.
“It’s great to have four guys qualify,” he said. “It’s the most I think we have had to come off the Challenge Tour. I don’t think the Scottish guys get enough credit, so now hopefully now we can move up and make an impact.
Robert MacIntyre finished sixth, seven strokes behind Arnaus, and 12th on the rankings, and he is sure better is to come. “It’s been a great week for me personally and obviously a great year for all Scottish guys here,” he said. “ It is a massive positive going into the European Tour.”
Liam Johnston, whose 17th-place finish at the weekend secured 10th on the Road To RAK race concurred. “It’s been a fantastic year. There has been a lot of us out here. A good mix of young and old so it’s fantastic to get four out of the 15 from such a small country. It’s brilliant.
“Of course now, for sure, we can go on and push for European titles. I don’t see why not. We’ve got everything in front of us so we are looking forward to next year.”
David Law scraped into 14th in the rankings, thanks to a strong opening two rounds in RAK and he believes the rapport between the Scottish guys in the locker room and on the course has helped them. “It’s been great year for the Scottish boys,” he said. “Liam had great success earlier in the year and I think we have all fed off that. A lot of guys have been doing well each week and we have all bounced off each other and had a great time.”
Forrest went on to tip his compatriots for greater things.
“You never know, we could have four Ryder Cuppers here,” he said. “We are on the way up. We also have guys like Calum Hill, who only joined half way through the Tour this year and Ewan Ferguson who came up short in the rankings. They still have Q-School and without a doubt, they can join us too.”
