SCOTT Gregory is the first ever Hampshire-born British Amateur Champion - and he's off to the Open as a result!

The 21-year-old, from Corhampton Golf Club, held off a strong challenge from Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre to seal a 2&1 victory in the 36-hole match at Royal Porthcawl at the weekend.

Winning the Amateur Championship is a massive achievement for any amateur player, following in the footsteps of previous winners such as Sergio Garcia and Jose-Maria Olazabal.

The England A international, placed at 44th in the world prior to the win, secured a place in The 145th Open at Royal Troon, next year’s US Open at Erin Hills and, by tradition, an invitation to the Masters Tournament in 2017.

Having got to three up after 14 holes, Gregory was pegged back to just one up after 18 holes.

The second round started badly after he lost the lead to go one down, but he turned this around to get back into the lead, eventually winning on the 35th hole.

“Obviously it’s a dream come true," said Gregory. "You dream about moments like this when you are practising all those hours and when you’re not playing as well as you’d like to.”

“It’s (playing in The Open) going to be completely new to me so hopefully I can get some decent practice rounds in with some people and see where I go from there.

“Luck went my way a little bit, that definitely helped. I got a couple of lies where I shouldn’t have had lies but I made the most out of the opportunitiesI had.

“I kept telling myself if I got chances, I’ve got to take them because that’s what people who win these championships do.

"They give themselves chances and when they get them, they take them.

"I knew that putt on 17 was the moment I needed to make it so it was nice to do it.”