Good start for Gregory at Australian Amateur Championship

After shaking off the rust in his opening event two weeks ago in the Australian Master of the Amateurs at the Royal Melbourne course, the Corhampton ace opened with a fine 69 at Kingswood.

The three-under par total left the British Amateur champion in a group tied for fifth place, alongside Wales’ David Boote, who is likely to become a Walker Cup team-mate of Gregory in September.

Gregory makes the short trek to the Yarra Yarra tomorrow, where scoring was much tougher on day one.

And with 20 of the 21 leading scores out of the 234-strong field in the first round all recorded at Kingswood, something close to par at Yarra Yarra should be sufficient to book Gregory’s place in the top 64, who will progress to the matchplay stages.

Starting at the 10th today, Gregory ran off a string of four consecutive pars before a double bogey six at the 14th threatened to derail his bid.

But he bounced backed immediately with a birdie two, and after parring the last par five, he birdied 17 and 18 to get back in red figures.

Gregory then made it three birdies in a row with a three at the first and got to three-under with another three at the seventh to post a 69.

To follow live scoring at the Australian Amateur, click here