He'd been knocking on it for weeks as he collected a series of category prizes and, finally, the door to overall competition success was opened to Gary McAleavey in County Armagh Golf Club's May Medal.
In the strokeplay event held on Saturday 20 May, Gary carded an unbeatable nett 63 to seal victory by two clear shots from the rest of the 167-strong field.
Seven fine pars and the bonus of a brilliant birdie up on Rokeby Green provided the backbone of McAleavey's May masterclass, which has resulted in a well-earned handicap reduction from 21 to 19.
May Medal winner Gary McAleavey is presented with his prize by Eileen Stewart, manager at Armagh Business Centre, who sponsored the competition, and daughter Nicola Stewart. Also pictured are category winner Michael Grant and Club Captain Richard Stewart.
Of the several admirable aspects of Gary's fantastic round, arguably the most impressive was a four at the last when five dropped shots at the 16th and 17th had threatened to spoil the outstanding work that he had done over the previous 15 holes.
Heading up a chasing pack of five players who recorded nett 65s was Brian Loney, who filled the runner-up slot on account of a fantastic level-par back nine that was boosted in no small part by a back-to-back birdie blast at the closing two holes.
Loney has evidently built an instant rapport with his beloved new irons. Eleven pars in addition to that pair of birdies led to an excellent gross 73 that makes the Killylea man a seven-handicapper next time out.
If we move swiftly from Killylea to Keady, we find Barry Scully atop the category 1 standings on the same finishing total. Barry, too, enjoyed the impetus injection of consecutive birdies which, arriving as they did at the 11th and 12, immediately stemmed the bleeding caused by a double bogey at the 10th. They also set Scully up nicely for a profitable run of four pars in five holes on the homeward straight.
In a skirmish between two of the club's wonderkids, the five-handicapped pair of Joe Rooney and Lee Campbell were tied on gross 70 and nett 65, with Rooney pipping Campbell to the category 1 runner-up spot on a break of tie. An aggregate total of six birdies and 24 pars for the lads' collective 36 holes is quite the testament of youth .
The slightly older but no less competitive Pascal Toner also returned a superb nett 65 and consequently took the plaudits in category 2.
A streak of five pars in a row between the 11th and 15th as well as a birdie at the 6th kept Pascal just ahead of Jim McCreesh, who wasn't unduly knocked out of his stride by his unusually late tee time despite fears to the contrary. A birdie at Beresford and nine pars elsewhere saw Jim secure both second place here and a 13-to-12 handicap snip ahead of upcoming golfing tussles.
Michael Grant, who was Club Captain in 2010, nailed first place in category 3 with a solid and satisfying nett 68 that boasted a par on each nine and edged perennial category prizewinner Malachy McSorley into second position. In a characteristically dependable showing, Malachy registered four pars on his way to a nett 69.