HAMPSHIRE golfer Scott Gregory claimed the second biggest title of his amateur career by landing the New South Wales Amateur crown with a narrow victory over England team-mate Marco Penge last Friday, writes Andrew Griffin.

No sooner had the 2016 British Amateur champion claimed the trophy than he was heading for the airport for the long flight back to the UK, touching down at Heathrow on Sunday.

His mind was already focused on the next two months before he makes the famous drive down Magnolia Lane and tees it up for his debut in the 2017 Masters at Augusta.

Corhampton member Gregory, who admitted he was still struggling to get his body clock firmly back on UK time, said: “Any win is a good win. You can never knock a win. It was good to go out to Australia and get one early in the season and hopefully use it as a springboard going forward.

“It was a real battle in the final. Marco and I traded shots all day. I had a bit of a wobble in the middle of the second round, but I holed a couple of crucial putts in the end.

“Augusta might potentially be my next start ­­– this is a good way to go into it really.”

Although not in the same league as his British Amateur triumph, Gregory was thrilled to win a trophy bearing the name of 2005 US Open winner Michael Campbell and 1947 US PGA Champion Jim Ferrier.

Other notable winners over the last 118 years include Australian European Tour winners Peter O’Malley, Lucas Parson and Jack Newton, while England’s Gary Wolstenholme, who played in two Masters after his victories in the Amateur Championship, took the NSW in 2007.

After taking a big early lead at Sydney’s Terrey Hills G&CC, Gregory, who had been knocked out of the last 16 in the Australian Amateur a fortnight earlier in Melbourne, didn’t expect the contest to go the distance.

He said: “I should’ve been closing it out, but I was playing against a great player in Marco – someone who knows my game very well.

“When it was all-square with two to go, I had to win the 17th. I flagged it from 225 yards and thought it was going to be nice putt for birdie. But the ball ended up very close to a drain and I didn’t think it was right to take a drop as it did not interfere with my stance.”

Penge used his 20-yard advantage off the tee to put the Hampshire ace under pressure after lunch and drew level with four to play.

The next two holes were halved before Gregory gambled on going for the flag on 17, with Penge in the fairway bunker and forced to lay up.

But when the Sussex player missed his par putt from some nine feet, Gregory knew he needed to find the fairway and green in regulation to force the 20-year-old to make birdie to take the match into sudden-death.

Penge was understandably deflated after defeat in his first 36-hole final. “All that hard work for nothing. In the end, there’s only one winner, but I gave it a good go,” he said ruefully.

Gregory has dropped four places in the World Amateur Rankings to number 10 while ‘down under’ in January.