Winter work pays off for England star Gregory

Scott Gregory produced a stellar display as England clinched the Costa Ballena Quadrangular Tournament in Spain for the fifth time.
Scott Gregory. Picture: Andrew GriffinScott Gregory. Picture: Andrew Griffin
Scott Gregory. Picture: Andrew Griffin

The Waterlooville-based talent was a key man as the national side breezed to glory with victories over Finland, Germany and the hosts – all by a 7-2 margin.

Gregory notched five points from a possible six in the tournament – only tasting defeat in the singles against the Germans.

The Corhampton player said: ‘It went really well.

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‘It was nice to get out there and get away from the cold weather here to test what I’ve been working on over the winter.

‘And it paid off. Obviously there is still room for improvement.

‘But the match I lost I still played well, so there were no big negatives about the week really.

‘I adapted to everything quite quickly, which is something I haven’t done in the past.’

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England led the standings going into the final fixture with Spain.

They knew victory would make certain of the crown and showed little sign of pressure as they clinched the title in comfortable fashion.

Gregory added: ‘The spirit within the team was quite relaxed and calm.

‘We were there to do a job, so we did what we had to do.

‘There wasn’t really too much pressure on us and we had sort of relieved all that pressure by lunch time.

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‘Once we had won the foursome session 2-1, we only needed half a point in the afternoon to win the tournament.

‘So we just had to go out there and play good golf.’

Gregory’s next target is the Portuguese Amateur Championship.

He will also play the Spanish Amateur Championship before the English season gets into full swing.

‘I have managed to get off to a slightly quicker start to the year than usual, which is quite nice,’ said Gregory.

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‘There are a couple of things I need to work on ready for when I go to Portugal next month.

‘Apart from that, everything was nice and smooth.

‘My long game and pitching were good.

‘I’ve worked quite hard on them over the winter.

‘And I putted really nicely all week and that is always a bonus.

‘Going from slightly slower greens over here to quicker greens and adapting quite quickly is a big positive going forwards.’

– JOHN ARKLESS