Since succeeding long-serving Honorary Secretary Paddy Burns at the beginning of 2020, John Lowe has had the unenviable task, along with other key club officers, of guiding County Armagh Golf Club through the coronavirus crisis. However, amid the many hours spent on that sterling administrative work, John has clearly not allowed his golf game to suffer.
This was fully evidenced in a tournament sponsored by Alexander Mills on 26 July, when the Belfast-born left-hander’s glorious 76-shot showing captured him the second monthly Medal to be awarded this season.
Lowe’s Sunday outing was ignited with a birdie at the 3rd and he proceeded to negotiate the rest of the outward half using four pars and a couple of bogeys. Having commenced proceedings playing off 13, that left J-Lo a useful three shots under his handicap at the turn.
Equally good play would follow on the back nine, where a potentially troubling seven at the 12th was immediately ameliorated by a birdie on Rokeby Green, and then four consecutive pars and a cool-headed five at the last. It all added up to an unsurprisingly unbeatable nett 63, which secured for John a new handicap of 11 in addition to the July Medal silverware.
The victor’s nearest neighbour on the Sunday leaderboard was Paul McCurry, whose fabulous nett 64 placed him just one shot off the pace. Runner-up McCurry’s five-over par round was a wonderfully and characteristically assured affair comprising a dozen pars, five bogeys and, in contrast to Lowe, a Ballyheridan birdie.
Elsewhere, Stewart Hall was top man in the 0-12 bracket. Although he birdied the Old Third, it was on the homeward trek that Stewart really hit his category-winning stride. A sublime back nine containing eight pars and only one bogey delivered Hall to a nett 65 and a handicap status of eight. In second position here was Bill Knipe, who birdied the 2nd and 7th and, despite a shaky closing stretch, eventually put his name to a terrific nett 66.
Andrew McBurney sealed the category 2 honours after responding impressively to his unsettling start. McBurney put that opening treble bogey out of his mind and went on to complete the remaining 17 holes in just 10 over par. His excellent nett 65 maintains the rapid downward direction of a handicap that currently stands at 17.
A solitary shot adrift of Andrew was category 2 runner-up, Gavin McElmeel, who opened with four pars and birdied the 6th on his way to a splendid front nine of 36 hits. Gavin’s nine-over-par second half was perhaps a regression to the mean but, nonetheless, he too carded a high-quality nett 66 on what was a fine day’s scoring across the 141-stong field.
Finally, a break of tie was required to separate the best two performers in category 3. Both Connor Mallon and Seamus Toner returned meritorious nett 68s in this section but, in the end, the former edged out the latter on account of his superb 4, 4 finish. For his part though, Seamus can reflect with fondness on a profitable purple patch of four pars in five holes between the 9th and 13th.
