Along with Captain's Day, President's Day and the Lonsdale Cup, the Gerry Lenagh Open is regarded by many traditionalists as one of County Armagh Golf Club's ‘Majors'. And on 11 August, 183 hopefuls hit the fairways in a quest for glory in the annual tournament sponsored by Morgan McLernon Transport Distribution.
No one, however, could match Garrett O'Reilly, who returned a sparkling score of 45 points to get his hands on the historic and much-coveted Gerry Lenagh Memorial Cup. Garrett's red-letter day had begun in earnest with a birdie at the 2nd, before three pars and another birdie at the 6th meant he reached the turn at just two over par.
On the way home, the minor stutter of three-putt bogeys at both the 11th and 13th was undauntedly consigned to virtual irrelevancy by back-to-back pars at the 14th and 15th, and then a perfectly-timed birdie at the penultimate hole that ultimately sealed a maiden ‘Major' title for Dundalk's favourite blow-in. O'Reilly's career-best gross 76 contained no double bogeys and effected a 15-to-13 handicap cut that will be nearly as satisfying as his capture of the beautiful and storied silverware.
County Armagh Golf Club Captain, Colm Shannon, presents the Gerry Lenagh Memorial Cup to Garrett O'Reilly, winner of the Open Stableford competition sponsored by Morgan McLernon Transport Distribution. Also pictured are other prizewinners (L-R): Adam Cromwell, Gareth Reilly, Shea Smyth, Tim Teahan and Joe Rooney.
The Gerry Lenagh runner-up was the visiting Oscar Loney, who finished just a couple of points shy of Garrett. After an unseemly treble bogey at the 1st, Loney soon settled down and clearly started to feel very much at home in his Cathedral City surroundings. The 13-handicapper's seven pars and one birdie immediately following that opening seven facilitated his banking of 22 points at the halfway stage. Then, a neat-and-tidy back nine of four bogeys and five pars, including a brilliant 4, 4, 4 closing salvo, helped Oscar over the line to a fabulous 43-point total, and he'll no doubt have left with fond memories of his County Armagh sojourn.
The bronze-medal berth was occupied by a more local contender, namely Adam Cromwell. Having been somewhat overshadowed by his old man, Neil, on the prize front in recent weeks, Adam reasserted familial authority through an exceptional gross 68. The big three-handicapper's increasingly frequent masterclass consisted of five birdies, 10 pars and only three bogeys.
Next in the Saturday pecking order was another young talent in the shape of Jamie Calvert. Jamie equalled Adam's 41-point result but had to content himself with fourth place on account of his marginally less profitable homeward dander. Nine pars, a birdie and the avoidance of a double bogey represented another worthwhile outing for the now 11-handicapper nevertheless.
While guiding his All-Ireland Four-Ball Trophy charges to an Ulster semi-final in a non-playing capacity, Tim Teahan has quietly been producing some excellent displays of his own this summer. The latest was this 40-pointer, which included a birdie on Lady Anne's Walk and two instances of three consecutive pars and earned fifth spot for Tim.
Another regular presence on the podium of late has been Stephen Monaghan, and he was there again courtesy of a terrific 39-point effort. A no-score at the Lakes was the sole blip that prevented Stephen from climbing higher than 6th on the Lenagh leaderboard.
The final nett award was claimed by the outright victor's almost namesake, Gareth Reilly, who also recorded 39 points. Reilly's at once impressive and symmetrical scorecard showed 40 blows on each nine and promotes him to category 1 for upcoming qualifying battles.
In the gross reckoning, a formidable six-birdie haul saw Shea Smyth to the top accolade on 36 gross points. Meanwhile, runner-up Joe Rooney was three adrift of Shea with a solid three-over-par knock that would've been better but for its scrappy climax.
Finally, also deserving of mention is Niall McGeown, whose putter saw no Rokeby Green action due to his wonderful hole-in-one at the 13th. Congratulations, Niall!