AN HISTORIC CLUB WITH A MAGNIFICENT GEORGIAN PARKLAND SETTING SINCE 1893

The Connolly Cup completed the trio of gross tournaments contested at County Armagh Golf Club on 6 July, and it was Thomas Crowe who reached the summit of the 19+ handicap leaderboard with a tremendous 82-shot offering.

In the competition sponsored by Abbey Bond Lovis Insurance, a consecutive hat-trick of early pars preceded a birdie at the 6th as Crowe soared through the front nine in six over par.

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And that golfing assuredness continued into the second half, where Thomas’s victory march featured five more pars. Indeed, the resultant 19-to-17 handicap cut ensures that the 2019 Connolly Cup champion will be competing for the Webster Cup instead next season.

On a Saturday of scintillating scoring among this cohort, David Agnew can count himself unfortunate to have collected only the runner-up accolade. Agnew, too, posted a fabulous gross 82, a round that was helped along in its early stages by his snaffling of eight pars in the opening 11 holes. A failure to add any more thereafter would ultimately prove his undoing in the silverware stakes, but this was a superb performance that means David now tees it up as an 18-handicapper.

Meanwhile, the Connolly Cup nett prize was secured, somewhat fittingly, by Eamon Connolly, whose three late pars enabled him to return a terrific nett 66.