SCOTT Gregory’s fine form continued as he recorded a top 10 finish in the Welsh Strokeplay a week after picking up six out of eight points on his England debut in the 14-10 victory over France at Formby.

Links golf was the order of the day again as the Corhampton ace travelled to Royal St David’s, set in the shadow of Harlech castle high in the cliffs above the North Welsh coast.

The par 69 course is rated the best links course in Britain never to have staged the Open Championship and has a very strong run of holes on the back nine.

Gregory, by his own admission, was nowhere near at his best on and around the greens in the first round, coming home in 71 – five shots behind the early leader Scotland’s Callum Fyfe, from Cawder, as the 21-year-old runner up in the Spanish Amateur, back in March, traded four birdies with five bogeys, including four on the notorious stretch from the 13th.

The Scots would eventually occupy four of the top five places as Gregory could only add a 70 to his opening effort, with three more birdies cancelled out by four black marks on the card.

With three-over par comfortably inside the cut line by four shots, the England A squad member came out with all guns blazing for the final 36 holes on Sunday after dropping a shot at his first holes.

He birdied the fifth for the third time in a row and got under par for the day with a birdie four at the par five seventh.

Eight pars in a row were put down on the card but a three at the 16th got the round going again and he picked up his fourth shot of the day with a two at the closing hole, as he had done in round two.

The final round began slowly, seeming to end any hopes of forcing his way into the top five and the chance to profit from any stumble by the leader, Barry Hume, from Haggs Castle, who played in the 2001 Walker Cup alongside Luke Donald and Graeme McDowell.

But a burst of three birdies in four holes from the eighth including his fifth two of the weekend saw Gregory climb five places to seventh after he made at three at the 16th to finish with back-to-back 66s.

Gregory was bidding to become just the third Hampshire player to win the Welsh title – Rowlands Castle’s Darren Wright claimed it in 2011 at St Pierre, while Hayling’s Matt Blackey lifted the trophy back in 1996.

Meon Valley’s Harry Ellis missed the cut at Harlech after carding rounds of 70 and 76, tied alongside North Hants’ Billy Watson, who returned two 73s.

All three players missed Hampshire’s match against Kent as a result of the Welsh trip.