Once again the sun shone on the FORE Tour and lo and behold Russell Forrester became the FORE Tour Masters Champion for 2004 after recording scores of 32, 29 and 32 stableford points over the Vila Sol courses on Portugal’s Algarve Coast.

Russell playing off 10 handicap from East Sussex National was a very popular winner and whilst he has finished in second and  third place several times in the six years he has played on the FORE Tour this was the first time he has actually won an event. In his winner’s speech Russell said he was “Glad to get the monkey off his back at long last” (it must have been hampering his back swing!)

The top 20 finishers in the 2004 Order of Merit were invited to play in the FORE Tour Masters which included four nights luxury accommodation at the brand new 5 star Vila Sol Hotel and three rounds of golf over the very challenging 27 holes at Vila Sol. The original 18 holes are regarded as the toughest course on the Algarve with tight fairways and slick undulating greens.

In second place was tied first round leader 3 handicap Graham Purnell from Hertfordshire. Graham was unfortunate to get off to a slow start in the final round scoring only 10 points on the front nine but he came back strongly with 18 over the second half. Graham has had a very successful season on the FORE Tour finishing in 14th place on the Order of Merit.

Another newcomer, 8 handicap Mike Cranswick from Newcastle via Hampshire, came in third place with scores of 29, 33 and 26. Competition was fierce amongst the leaders on the final day and Mike was disappointed with his finish having started the first round as the Bookies favourite.

Chris Hardaker, the mighty atom from Hertfordshire, performed well during the first two rounds and with scores of 33 and 31 was leading by 2 going into the final round. However some bad luck coupled with tiredness from the previous two nights festivities resulted in a very disappointing final score of 19 points for the Scratch Man.

2004 Order of Merit winner Keith Larner is going through a few swing changes and was totally out of sorts with the tight fairways at Vila Sol and experienced life at the reverse end of the scoreboard for a change. But the unassailable winner of the Ray of Hope prize was 10 h’cap Russell Payne, the jovial bookie from Lincoln who is still recovering from a recent broken ankle.