Jay Gregory: It's hard to call it work when you do what you love

On Wednesday, two-time defending champ Wayne Fredrick and Brian Lovett shared the first round lead after posting 1-under par 70 at Columbia Country Club.

But there were seven players within just three shots of the lead, and a great deal of top midwestern talent within striking distance.

One of them, Jay Gregory, hunts for a living. I think you know where this story is going.

Despite birdieing the first hole, Lovett found trouble on the front nine, posting 41 to take himself out of the race. Things were almost as bad for the two time defending champ, who posted 40. But Fredrick still had one hand on the trophy on the back nine, and he did his best to make it tough on the new leaders by posting 2-under 33 for a 1-over tournament total of 143 on rounds of 70 and 73.

Gregory -- of Lineville, Iowa -- scored the lead with a 1-under 35 on the front, then birdied the 10th to start an up and down back nine where he seemed to give one back every time he took one from old man par.

Nine holes, and just two pars. But the three bogeys by Gregory were offset by birdies, and he recorded a solid par on the par-5 18th to post 1-under 141 for a two stroke victory.

Tied in second place were Fredrick, along with Ed Brown of Independence (72-71) and Joseph Malench of Edwardsville (72-71).

Gregory is an accomplished amateur who played in the 2017 U.S. Mid-Am and also qualified for the 2019 U.S. Senior Open.

And get this.

Away from the golf course, Gregory is better known as the host of The Wild Outdoors on The Sportsman Channel, a television program he’s been at the helm of going on 30 years.

Gregory's show has traveled from Alaska to Mexico. It's whitetail deer, not birdies that he focuses on -- and the hunting is all by archery.

“Hunting is what I do for a living, so it kind of has to take precedence in certain times of the year," Gregory told the Bemijdi, Minnesota Pioneer after winning the club championship at the Bemidji Town Club. "But I’m trying to play more tournament golf now than I really have in quite a few years,” he said. “We get pretty busy in the fall with the TV show.”

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