CRAIGIELAW golf star Grant Forrest hopes to draw on local knowledge to overcome a strong field at this week's Carrick Neill Scottish Open Stroke Play Championship at Gullane.

Gullane No 1, the host of last year's Scottish Open, again plays host to a prestigious event when a truly international field gathers from tomorrow (Friday) to Sunday.

Forrest is the top-ranked player in the field, at 29th on the World Amateur Golf Ranking, but the Scot faces a stiff challenge from leading names across the world.

Forrest, who recently competed in two professional Challenge Tour events for experience after a partnership involving Scottish Golf and Bounce Sport, lead the home hopes, along with the likes of Ewen Ferguson and last week’s Welsh Open winner Barry Hume, the Scottish Open Stroke Play winner back at Southerness in 2002.

Wallace Booth was the last Scottish winner, in 2008, with Richie Ramsay another past champion.

Forrest said: “The Challenge Tour experience was really good, and it was great to play in the events and see how such events are run and the standard of guys you are playing against.

“But I still have a lot of golf to be played in amateur events this year and the Stroke Play is one event I haven’t won. I didn’t play last year as I was graduating, but I’ve played it a couple of times before.

"It would be a good one to win, over a strong field and a great golf course.

“To be honest, I’ve not played Gullane that much in the past few years, but I know it reasonably well. I played Gullane No 2 probably a bit more when I was younger. It’s a pretty fair test, it’s all in front of you so we’ll see what happens.”

Willie Biggart, club captain at Gullane Golf Club, added: “We are delighted to welcome the Scottish Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship to Gullane.

"We are honoured to have the opportunity to host this event and our staff have worked hard to ensure the players have a memorable experience both on and off the course.

“Golf has been played over these links for 350 years and the reasons why we are still at the pinnacle of the worldwide game are the same as those that first drew the pioneers of the sport to the East Lothian coastline.”