After a three-year lull, Marcus Armitage has come from nowhere and burst on to the professional golf scene.
Last week the Skelmanthorpe man entered his first PGA EuroPro Tour event of the season, the Kingspan Concra Wood Open in Ireland – and won it by three clear shots.
His eight-under-par earned him a cheque for £10,000 and propelled him to sixth in the tour’s Order of Merit. At the end of the season, the top five will qualify for the Challenge Tour.
Armitage, 26, is certainly making the other contenders sit up and take notice. Not content with played one, won one, he immediately headed north for the EuroPro Tour Pro-Am event at Rowallan Castle in Scotland.
On Tuesday, he shot six under par to take top spot, making it played two, won two.
Armitage is a big hitter of the ball and at one professional event a couple of years ago, was rated as “the rawest talent you will ever see.”
This week he said: “I am playing the best golf of my life and I feel great. The Concra Wood Open was a fantastic win.”
It’s been a bumpy ride for the Howley Hall man since turning professional in 2009. He got off to a good start winning that year’s Players’ Tour Order of Merit.
But a torn shoulder derailed him and, by his own admission, he lost focus and got in with the wrong crowd.
In February of this year he was banned from driving after drinking. That was his turning point.
He said: “That was the best thing that ever happened to me. Since then my dad has dropped me off at Howley Hall at 8am and picked me up at 8pm. I have been practising 10 hours a day on all aspects of my game and it’s really paid off.”
His father, Philip, who lives in Pilling Lane, Skelmanthorpe is his biggest fan. He drove Marcus to EuroPro qualifying school in Oxfordshire in March and shared a tent with him, as they could not afford a hotel.
Friend Liam Kindon sponsored Armitage’s costs at the Concra Wood Open in return for half of any prize money. He’s continuing to help, but Armitage is also looking for a corporate sponsor. Anybody interested can contact him by email on m.a.progolf@hotmail.co.uk
In the meantime, Armitage is concentrating on the six EoroPro tournaments he intends to play before the season ends, and hoping he can maintain his form to make the top five.
