sectional qualifying<\/a>, rounds of 69 and 67 comfortably good enough for one of the 14 spots made available at Walton Heath. He wasn\u2019t completely satisfied with his game and an underlying wrist injury was causing some discomfort, but the Englishman\u2019s week on Long Island had an auspicious start.<\/p>\nAs he began clipping balls on the practice range, Gregory\u2019s partner Sian spotted Tiger Woods walking by and encouraged him to grasp a golden photo opportunity. Gregory was awestruck and has little recollection of the pleasantries exchanged. But when they crossed paths again later by the putting green, Sian speculatively asked Woods if he fancied coming around for dinner that evening.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve wanted to meet Tiger my whole life and I could barely get\u00a0a word out,\u201d Gregory smiles. \u201cShe doesn\u2019t know much about golf and because of that she wasn\u2019t fazed about chatting to him.\u201d <\/p>\n
Tiger never came to tea, but the photo was printed, framed and placed in Gregory\u2019s locker even before he left Shinnecock. As he had only travelled with Sian, Gregory didn\u2019t use any of his allotted passes for the week, but earned some support quickly by handing tickets out to military veterans via a friend in the United States Army. \u201cI\u2019m probably the only English guy who\u2019s had ten military members as their visitors for the week at the US Open,\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n
The jitters only really set in when Gregory stepped on to the course.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t drive it well at all in the qualifier,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI hit it so far offline on a lot of holes that I was OK. But I walked on to the first tee at Shinnecock and thought, \u2018Crap, this is tight.\u2019 High rough both sides, it\u2019s 15 yards wide and I can\u2019t hit a fairway that\u2019s 60 yards wide.<\/p>\n
\u201cI played the practice round and I hit it everywhere. I lost loads of balls. I just had a sickly feeling, thinking I am not ready for this. I\u2019d never had that before, the other majors I\u2019d played in my game was in a really good spot, so I spent way more hours on the range than I normally would.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gregory sensed a big number was coming on Thursday morning. How big? He wasn\u2019t quite sure.<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually got off to a decent start,\u201d he says of his first round. \u201cI made a par on my first hole of the day. I made an OK bogey on the second but then I hit it so far left off the tee. The next one went right and for the rest of the round I had no idea where it was going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gregory made a triple-bogey seven on the par-four third and followed that with two consecutive doubles. At eight-over-par after five holes, he was still hoping to salvage something under 80. But Gregory\u2019s second par didn\u2019t come until his 11th hole. And with the winds beginning to whip around Shinnecock Hills \u2013 a course that needs no extra help \u2013 Gregory\u2019s nightmare was only just beginning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are golf demons around this place,\u201d John Bodenhamer, the USGA\u2019s course supremo, says of Shinnecock. \u201cThey come up out of these putting greens in a devilish, wonderful, charming way.\u201d Devilish yes, callous even, but there was nothing charming about the torture being inflicted on Gregory.<\/p>\n
The reality, though, is that those deadly dry putting surfaces \u2013 which famously provoked Phil Mickelson to hit a moving ball in a fit of frustration \u2013 were far from Gregory\u2019s greatest concern. Reaching the turn in 47 shots, this was a perpetual panic about the direction of his next tee shot.<\/p>\n
\u201cShinnecock isn\u2019t a course where you can rip a two-iron and that will be all right,\u201d Gregory explains. \u201cIt\u2019s 250 yards of carry to the fairway. I couldn\u2019t see any way I could get the ball around. It feels like the whole world is crumbling around you. It feels like the worst you could ever shoot is 75, but with four holes to go I thought I might not break 100. My focus wasn\u2019t there. It was all just a blur. I had two really tricky holes coming up where I\u2019m not hitting it straight enough to keep it anywhere near the golf hole.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
By this stage, a grim silence had set in between with Gregory and his veteran caddie Chris Carr. \u201cIt just got the point where we were going through the motions,\u201d he explains. \u201cIf he got me in the fairway I was OK. But he\u2019d hand me driver and I\u2019d whack it and we\u2019d see where we ended up. There\u2019s not much conversation you can have. He could say, \u2018hit driver towards that tree\u2019, but I wasn\u2019t going to hit it there so it didn\u2019t really matter. We just hit it and tried to find it.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a bogey on the 18th came a merciful end. Gregory signed for 92, a 22-over par round which included three pars, ten bogeys, three double bogeys and two triples. He hit five fairways and four greens in regulation. The scoring average on a chastening day was more than 76, Rory McIlroy posting 80 and Jordan Spieth 79. But this was the first time in 16 years a US Open player had shot in the 90s.<\/p>\n
Gregory bravely fronted up to reporters. \u201cIf you stuck me in the fairway, I would\u2019ve played pretty good,\u201d he said, smiling through the pain, before rushing off for dinner in an attempt to forget all about it. But when he returned to his rental property, his phone lit up with messages from a slew of trolls.<\/p>\n
\u201cI read some of\u00a0the comments,\u201d he says. \u201cThey were telling me how bad I am at golf. I didn\u2019t sleep much that evening. But the next day I thought, \u2018I\u2019ll just try and find\u00a0a way to get it round and break 80.\u2019 That felt respectable after the first round.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Friday, Gregory shot 75.<\/p>\n
It was an improbable comeback which Gregory ranks second on his list of career achievements, behind only his Amateur Championship trophy. To return from oblivion with a birdie and six bogeys, five-over-par felt like the round of a lifetime. \u201cI don\u2019t know how I was so composed,\u201d he says. \u201cI feel lot of people would have just not bothered turning up for the second\u00a0round.\u201d<\/p>\n
The wrist problem was an easy out, \u201cbut I just feel like I\u2019m so much better than that\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cGoing out there and giving it a go, and then shooting a half-decent score, I\u2019m\u00a0proud of being able to do that,\u201d he adds. \u201cThen I could get back home and get back to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Gregory could salvage one thing from his DFL finish at Shinnecock, it was that his powers of resilience could stand up under the most testing circumstances imaginable. <\/p>\n
But the sad truth is that irrevocable damage had been done that week on Long Island.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a week that\u2019s changed me a lot in terms of motivations and how I view myself,\u201d Gregory reflects now. \u201cIt had a big impact on my self-worth. I always wanted to be the best player I could be, but after that it was about proving the people who say I can\u2019t do it wrong. That\u2019s a very dangerous motivation. I had a lot of posts about me on social media. Someone tagged me in a picture of the bins at Shinnecock. You end up searching for people saying you can\u2019t do it because that\u2019s all that can motivate you.\u201d<\/p>\n
For a long period, Gregory was fueled by the ghouls. After making only one of eight cuts on the Challenge Tour that season, he bounced back by snaffling his first European Tour card at Q School. \u201cI got a lot of stick on Twitter so it proves to all them that I can do it, so I\u2019m happy with that,\u201d he said. \u201cThey haven\u2019t got an argument with me.\u201d Gregory then said he would be \u201ccarefully\u201d constructing a retort to his social media critics.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the people who said I should learn my trade at the Tower Bridge,\u201d he later posted. \u201cI\u2019ll learn it on the European Tour if that\u2019s OK?\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Gregory, however, lived his rookie season on Europe\u2019s top table on a diet of missed cuts and financial struggle. While determined to rail against the lowlifes taunting him for his round at Shinnecock, his game was falling apart. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d openly say that I\u2019ve battled the driver yips, and the tee shot yips more specifically,\u201d he explains. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t really matter if it\u2019s the driver or not, it\u2019s just off the tee. I think that came from [the US Open] and I\u2019ve never really got to the bottom of the issue. What happened at Shinnecock repeating itself has stopped me being able to pull driver. Because every time it comes out of the bag, it\u2019s going to happen again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt always felt like I was trying to find ways not to hit driver or to find the easiest way to not mess up. I\u2019ve hit a lot of two-irons off tees and I\u2019ve had decent results, but you can\u2019t win. I\u2019m giving up 30, 40, 50 yards off the tee. I\u2019m a good iron player, but it\u2019s just that constant fear of that repeating itself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Soon Gregory began skipping European Tour events because, without making any cuts, he couldn\u2019t afford to play in them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not from a wealthy background,\u201d Gregory says. \u201cI had a bit of backing but not crazy amounts. I was very lucky to be supported by Cobra, Mizuno and Titleist at different stages which all helped but there\u2019s still that pressure of trying to finish in X position to get the money back on what I spent for the week.\u201d<\/p>\n
A sleeve sponsorship could be worth up to \u00a310,000 to Gregory for a season on the main circuit, but he was burning through around \u00a32,000 an event on travel, accommodation, coaching and caddie costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got midway through the year\u00a0and I\u2019d used up all the money to be able to play,\u201d he says. \u201cI missed two events and I chatted to a couple family members and said I\u2019m not sure what to do. A few of them chipped in to give me a little bit of money to go and play in Germany the next week. I finished 28th at the Porsche European Open and that funded me for the rest of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Money is prosaic motivation at the elite level but as Gregory discovered as he slipped back down the ladder, it is for most players the primary source of anxiety. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a weird time because I\u2019ve got\u00a0a DP World Tour card,\u00a0but the funds are running low.\u00a0I\u2019ve got people that are backing me,\u00a0but I can\u2019t keep playing\u00a0without knowing\u00a0if I\u2019m going to make the money back. Being a professional golfer,\u00a0unless you\u2019re in the top 100 in the world,\u00a0there is a lot of pressure\u00a0because you\u2019re one bad season away\u00a0from not having a job.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Scott](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/scott-gregory-lost.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Gregory found solitude back on the Challenge Tour in 2020, rebuilding at ease well away from the glare of the bigger stages. But then Covid came and sucked out his wavering joy as a touring golfer. Otherwise confined to the four walls of his hotel room with gyms and restaurants off limits in isolated parts of continental Europe, Gregory spent up to five hours a day pounding balls on the range because there was nothing else to do. And yet he couldn\u2019t find the secret in the dirt.<\/p>\n
It was at this point Gregory now accepts he should have walked away, but he plowed on for a little while longer and eventually took residence on the Clutch Pro Tour. \u201cI had some decent results,\u201d he says.\u00a0\u201cBut then I went to Ireland just lost it off the tee again. I just thought that I\u2019ve had enough of this.\u00a0I put so much effort trying to get my game in a good spot and I just can\u2019t get control off the tee.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gregory finally escaped the touring bubble and found a fresh start at Corhampton, which began with teaching small sessions to wide-eyed juniors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went back to my home club,\u201d he explains. \u201cI was working in the pro shop a few days a week there anyway trying to fund playing in the Clutch events, so I told the head pro Ian Roper that I want to try and do my PGA training. I wasn\u2019t enjoying playing so if I could do a bit of coaching and stay within the game, I could keep doing what I enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was here he started to once again enjoy being a part of the game. \u201cWhen they\u2019d go from hitting a few balls along the floor\u00a0and then they\u2019d get one in the air,\u00a0and it\u2019s the best thing that\u2019s ever happened,\u201d he smiles. \u201cThat\u2019s what started making me fall back in love with it again. A couple of them knew that I\u2019d played in majors. They completely ignored the fact that one of them was terrible. They just loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still in his early thirties, Gregory has spent a long time during this transition wrestling with the feeling of resentment towards what he wasn\u2019t able to achieve in a career rather than what he had.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019d have asked me three years ago,\u00a0I\u2019d have said I absolutely hate\u00a0that I did that\u00a0and then didn\u2019t do anything with it,\u201d he admits. \u201cThat was something\u00a0that was big for me\u00a0and probably stopped me\u00a0getting as good as I could have been.\u00a0\u2018I was this good\u00a0and now I\u2019m not.\u2019\u00a0I look at it now\u00a0and if you gave me\u00a0what I did in those\u00a0two or three years\u00a0when I was\u00a014 years old,\u00a0I\u2019d have snapped your hand off and never fought twice. It\u2019s only because I did that\u00a0that I feel like\u00a0I should have done more.\u00a0But it doesn\u2019t work like that.\u00a0And what I\u2019m doing now,\u00a0I really enjoy.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a lot of the past eight years, I\u2019d say I wish I\u2019d never played the [US Open] qualifier. But I\u2019d say now I\u2019m content that I did because I feel like my life now is pretty good. I enjoy what I\u2019m doing. We\u2019ve got a nice house.\u00a0We\u2019re comfortable.\u00a0There\u2019s so many good things at the moment.\u00a0I wouldn\u2019t want to stop that and I might not have had that if it went a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is the first year since 2018 that Gregory has found comfort with a driver in his hand. He plays twice a week these days and harbors ambitions of contending in the PGA Cup \u2013 the \u2018World Cup\u2019 for PGA professionals \u2013 and even qualifying for another Open Championship<\/a> while honing his coaching trade. Gregory watches most of the big tournaments on TV and is no longer pining to be there, but has his reasons for skipping this upcoming major.<\/p>\n\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019m ready enough to watch a US Open at Shinnecock if I\u2019m honest,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ll watch the scores, but I probably won\u2019t watch it on TV. I want to remember all the nice things that happened.\u00a0I feel like there\u2019s too much negativity attached to that week.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I would love to do one day is go back and play it. Maybe not in a US Open, but just go and play Shinnecock. Everyone says how amazing it is,\u00a0but I honestly couldn\u2019t tell you because I spent zero time playing from the spots I should have been in. I\u2019d love to go and play it and just enjoy it as a golf course.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Gregory, there would be no more cathartic tee time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI played in three,\u201d he informs them, \u201cand I participated in one.\u201d\u00a0 In truth, Gregory prefers not to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":636727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-636726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=636726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Scott](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/scott-gregory-walker-cup.jpg\")
<\/p>\n