Competitive golf, by its very nature, is more often than not an individual and somewhat selfish pursuit. However, on the weekend of 25-26 March, players at County Armagh Golf Club were given an opportunity to showcase their collaborative qualities.
In a four-ball better-ball competition held on the Saturday, John George Willis and Paul Doyle combined to take top spot with a magnificent winning score of 49 points. Six-handicapper Doyle provided the flair with birdies at the 1st, 3rd, 13th and 14th holes, while Willis, a more than able assistant, offered a steady hand at the prizewinning tiller with several timely contributions.
Second place was filled by Michael Cullen and Tom Fox, who carded 48 points. Highlights of this deadly duo's day included Tom's two at the 7th and Michael's spectacular birdie at the hardest hole on the course, the infamous 16th.
Christopher Lester, fresh from his runner-up berth in the previous weekend's Chest, Heart and Stroke event, joined forces with Lee Stewart and the hot streak continued. Indeed, this pair were edged into third position only on a break of tie, having accrued fewer points over the closing six holes than the aforementioned Cullen-Fox axis.
Sunday saw a four-ball classic tournament, the format of which dictated that each four-man team would put forward their two best scores at 14 holes and their three best at the other four, namely the 4th, 9th, 14th and 18th.
The triumphant quartet here were Conor McGuigan, Malachy McSorley and Gavin and Tomas McElmeel. Their round was the very definition of effective alliance, yielding a fantastic 104 points and a relatively comfortable four-point victory margin.
The names of Tommy Mackin, Francis Smyth, Danny McGee and Shea Smyth have already featured prominently among the prizes in this embryonic season, so it was little surprise that their pooled resources would do just the same.
This in-form bunch returned a round total of 100 points to secure second place, with their 52-point homeward nine enough to ensure that John Lowe, Eamon O'Hagan, Danny Maxwell and Colm McElroy, who also declared at a century, had to content themselves with third.
With no more team competitions on the fixture list for the foreseeable future, unadulterated self-interest is poised to make an immediate return to the Cathedral City's fairways.