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.
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.