SCOTT Gregory took the pressure of being the favourite playing his home course to land his first Courage Trophy, winning by two shots from Blackmoor’s Mark Burgess, at Corhampton.

But both their efforts were overshadowed by the brilliance of the latest teenage talent to emerge from the Hampshire Isle of Wight and Channel Islands Golf Union conveyor belt, in the shape of Jordan Sundborg, who broke the Corhampton course record with a stunning second round 62 - a total of nine-under par.

That eclipsed the old record set by Corhampton’s former England international and Walker Cup player Neil Raymond, who was among the spectators in the morning at the final county amateur strokeplay event of the season.

Sundborg, who only turned 18 two days before, ended his days as a junior in the amateur ranks in style, firing seven birdies and eagling the last hole on his way to that 62 - one lower than the score Brokenhurst Manor’s Martin Young carded on his way to winning the Mike Smith Memorial Trophy at his New Forest club last month.

Young was aiming to make it four Courage Trophy victories in a row - last year he won the event and claimed the Cole Scuttle for the best 72-hole aggregate in the county championship qualifier and the Courage to complete a Grand Slam by winning the big four Hampshire titles in one season.

But after leading at lunch thanks to a 68, it became a race between Gregory, Burgess and Sundborg to see who could shoot the lights out around the downland course overlooking the South Downs Way.

Sundborg was fast out of the blocks, firing three birdies on his front nine after hitting it stone dead at the second for a shoe-in three.

He then holed a 15 feet putt on the fifth, and splashed out of a green side bunker on the 322-yard ninth to make another birdie three.

Two putts for a birdie on the 479-yard par five 10th were quickly followed by threes on the 11th and 13th as the Shanklin and Sandown star hit his eight iron to six feet on both holes.

With the existing record in sight, Jordan started to tread water a little with three pars in a row, but he was back on the birdie trail at 18th holing a 20-footer leaving him needing to birdie the last to tie Raymond’s record.

But the Isle of Wight player hit his five-ton on the 510-yard 18th to 10 feet before calmly finding the bottom of the cup for an eagle three and a simply stunning 62.

With Hampshire already through to the English County Finals at Cheshire’s Wychwood Park at the end of this month, plus the South East League Final at Broadstone, in a month’s time – and with the Colts playing in their South East final a week later, there were plenty of players trying to catch the eye of county captains Steve Williams and Neil Dawon, who were both in the 45-strong field.

But anyone watching Sundborg in the first round, would have been surprised to learn that he was a quarter-finalist at last month’s British Boys Championship at Royal Birkdale, after a stuttering 76 left him eight shots behind leader Young at lunch.

Jordan said: “I had a target in mind to at least get back to level for the day, but having done that by the 13th I just tried to go as low as I could over the last five holes and see what happened.

“i knew Scott was going to be tough to beat around his own course, but I am really, really pleased to produce a score like that and win the Cole Scuttle for the best strokeplay score in Hampshire’s top two events of the season.”

Gregory has been in fine form of his own in the last month after finishing fourth in the European Amateur Championship in Slovakia, and collecting his first win of the season by retaining the Stoneham Trophy after his play-off win over Ryan Henley, on his home course.

Gregory missed out on any chance of winning the inaugural Hampshire Order of Merit last year when he was forced to pull out of the Courage at Brokenhurst shortly after lunch, when right in contention.

This year, having missed the county championship because of the clash with the prestigious St Andrews Links Trophy at the Home of Golf, all Gregory could do was focus on winning on home soil in front of the Corhampton members who have done so much to support his rise to the England A squad in the last 12 months.

From two back at the halfway mark, Scott set about reeling in the defending champion and got off to a good start, sinking a monster from 50 feet for a three. And he bounced straight back from a bogey five at the fifth by making a six-footer for a two on the par three sixth, and picking up another shot at the par five seventh.

He had made birdies at both those holes in the morning and back-to-back birdies at the ninth and 10th got him to five-under for the tournament, with Young dropping shots at the fifth and seventh to take him back to two-under at the turn.

With both players in the same group, Gregory knew exactly where he was and increased the pressure on his county team-mate with another birdie three at the 12th to counteract Young’s birdie four at the 10th.

But a four at the par three 13th threatened to let the chasing pack get back at the new leader as Young also picked up another shot at the 14th.

Luckily Scott’s father Mike was walking the course and was aware of the fast-finishing charge by Burgess, who was looking to become just the fourth player to win the Courage three times after David Harrison (seven times), Kevin Weeks (six) and Young (four).

The Blackmoor giant, who stands at 6ft 7ins tall, was four-under at the turn and a birdie at the 14th meant the pair were tied on five-under.

But while Burgess was unable to cash on in the final par five, Scott read the four to five feet of break on his 17 foot birdie attempt correctly to make his fifth three of the afternoon.

That crucially gave him a one-shot lead going down the last and after finding the front of the green with his second, he cozied his first putt to six inches for a tap in birdie and a two-shot win.

Scott revealed after his victory: “I like to know where I stand in a tournament so dad telling me Mark’s score meant I knew I had three putts to win it on 18 so it was even better to finish with a four.”

Burgess was rewarded with both the runner-up prize in the Courage finishing one clear of Sundborg in third, and snatching Young’s Mid-Amateur crown after his total dominance in the event over the last decade, especially with England Seniors cap Alan Mew, not in the field.

Burgess was two shots ahead of Young while Brokenhurst Manor’s Ryan Harmer took the handicap prize, pipping Burgess on count back after the player who hails from Freshwater, on the Isle of Wight, carded a nett three-under.