Scott Gregory was the best player over the week at Royal Porthcawl, totally deserving of his Amateur Championship crown and all the precious baubles that go with it.
The 21-year-old from Hampshire’s 2 and 1 victory over Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre wins him not only the great old trophy and a place in the history books against one of golf’s oldest championships, but also of course a place in the next Open, Masters and US Open.
It’s a fantastic haul, especially for a player who wasn’t even in England’s Elite squad until their European Team Championship sextet was named yesterday. England had wisely left a space in case one of their players did well unexpectedly at Porthcawl; Scotland hadn’t, which means MacIntyre rather embarrassingly isn’t selected.
But the leap from the England A Squad to the biggest title on this side of the Atlantic is a big one. Gregory, playing a controlled game with outstanding recovery skills around the greens, was simply better than MacIntyre in a close final.
The Scot, still nursing something of a grievance against the national selectors for their snub – “I don’t know any selectors and I guess they don’t think they should pick a guy from Oban” – did have a chance to take control of the final in the same way he did in his previous three matches.
He did edge in front for the first time three holes into the afternoon round, but just as he took momentum he let it slip again with a poor shot into the 22nd and another to the 23rd which allowed Gregory to re-establish the lead.
The Englishman never trailed again and won out simply by making no mistakes in the tricky windy conditions.
Gregory still seemed slightly stunned by his victory and all that lay ahead of him – a place at Royal Troon next month for starters. Whether it will make for a spurt into a top level career in the game is another matter entirely.
In the last 30 years only one Amateur finalist has won a major championship – Trevor Immelmann, who lost to Scotland’s Craig Watson when just 17 in 1997. Only one winner in that spell is currently in the World’s Top 100, the 1998 champion Sergio Garcia, who is also the only future Ryder Cup player to have won the Amateur since Jose Maria Olazabal in 1984.
Some Amateur winners have been decent in the pro game for a time; Matteo Manassero (2009), Michael Hoey (2001) and Mikko Ilonen (2000). Some, like Scotland’s Watson and Stuart Wilson (2004) don’t even turn pro. Most are to be found on the mini tours around Europe still battling for the dream.
The truth is that the Amateur, for all that it is a great event played on wonderful historic courses like Royal Porthcawl – a true underrated gem of the game – is rubbish at identifying future talent.
It’s more than likely the best of the 288-strong field that will train on to be class acts will be like Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, Martin Kaymer and Danny Willett were in their attempts at the Amateur, beaten in the earlier rounds.
Perhaps Gregory will be different, and the win will be the makiing of him. I’d suspect that MacIntyre, with greater build and power, has the better chance to make it as a pro, but it’s a lottery making any kind of judgement from this great, old and sometimes anachronistic event.
