Coltart's victory Down Under opens the door to America

From the depths of near despair just over a year ago, when he had lost

his Tour card and a small fortune, he has risen to become Scottish

professional champion, twenty-fourth in the Open Championship, No.42 on

the European Tour order of merit, and an outstanding debutante in the

Dunhill and World Cups.

Now, the former Scottish strokeplay champion and Walker Cup player has

achieved his first overseas triumph in a tournament won by Sam Torrance

in 1980, completing a catalogue of success which adds up to a season's

tally of #195,000.

''No-one could have forecast all that would happen,'' he reflected

yesterday from his hotel room in Sydney. ''All I wanted was to retain my

playing privileges on the European Tour.''

Doors continue to open for the 24-year-old from Thornhill in

Dumfriesshire. His victory puts him straight into this week's Australian

Open over Royal Sydney and gains him exemption for five years for all

Australian events.

Moreover, he has been invited to play in the World Series at Akron,

Ohio, next August. ''That's an incredible perk,'' he enthused. ''It will

be my US Tour debut and you can be sure I will be going.''

His triumph Down Under is all the more remarkable as it came after a

36-hour journey from the World Cup in Puerto Rico. Less than four hours

after touching down, he teed off in the pro-am, and the next day it was

into the thick of the action. And that's the way he likes it.

''I put the success down to having played four weeks in succession --

at St Andrews, Valderrama, Puerto Rico, and then here,'' he reasoned.

''Before then there had been a gap of five weeks since the Lancome

Trophy.''

He also drew on the experience of his Scottish PGA win at Dalmahoy.

''When I was within sight of winning I told myself I had handled the

pressure before and I could do it again,'' said the Scot whose swing has

become much more solid this year through working with Gordon Gray, the

pro at Dumfries and County.

It promises to become stronger still. The six-foot, 11-stone player

said: ''I don't want to name-drop, but I had a chat with Nick Faldo at

Valderrama. He used to be thin like myself and then built himself up. He

told me I could work with weights as much as I liked from the abdomen

down, but to leave the shoulders alone so that they remain free to

swing.''

Another discovery is the fine balance between swing and equipment. He

has switched back to Mizuno clubs, which he used as an amateur, and

changed to a softer Titleist ball for better control.

His manager, former Tour player Andrew Chandler, who set up the entry

in last week's Reebok-sponsored Australian tournament through an

invitation from that company to which, happily, Coltart also is

attached, is aware of soaring confidence.

Chandler said: ''Through his performances in the Dunhill and World

Cups he has been accepted by better players at a higher level than ever

before. Andrew now knows he can be as good as they are.''

Next week he plays in the Holden Classic at Royal Melbourne and then

stops off at Kuala Lumpur on the way home for a tilt at the Malaysian

Volvo Masters.

He dismisses talk of claiming a Ryder Cup place as premature. ''I will

treat next year like this one,'' Coltart said, ''and that's trying to

win #40,000 as quickly as possible to make sure of my playing rights for

1996.''

We all know how far he has gone already with that philosophy.