HANDICAPPED AT CARNOUSTIE
Read how Howley Hall’s Armitage defied injury to tee it up in Open
IT WOULD seem reasonable to surmise from Marcus Armitage’s scores in his Open Championship debut – 80 69 – that the Howley Hall man was probably a bit anxious in his first round and then free-wheeled in round two when his chances of making the cut were virtually nil.
But not even Sherlock Holmes at his sharpest would have been able to deduce what actually prevented the Challenge Tour player from performing at his best on both Thursday and Friday at Carnoustie.
For just four days after qualifying for the oldest of golf ’s four majors – and less than a fortnight before pegging it up in Angus – Armitage dislocated his shoulder. Indoor skydiving.
It was two hours before the shoulder could be put back in place after which, the NHS website advises, “it takes between 12 and 16 weeks to heal”.
All of which means the 31-yearold was playing under a severe handicap, one which has forced him to give this week’s Challenge Tour event in Austria a miss.
But not one which made him give serious consideration to pulling out of the 147th Open Championship once he was sure he would not be risking longterm damage.
“You’ll think I’m mad, but I qualified for the Open and then went indoor skydiving in Manchester,” laughed Armitage, who is looking to reclaim his place on the European Tour via a top-15 place in this season’s Challenge Tour order of merit.
“It was a birthday present from my fiancée Lucy. I thought, ‘I shouldn’t be doing this’, because I have always had a weak shoulder and then I thought, ‘do you know what, I am just going to do it. Don’t be full of fear, you’ve got to live your life’ – and I dislocated my shoulder for two hours.”
Only Armitage’s close circle of family and friends knew what had happened as he did not want to appear to be making excuses ahead of the Open.
He could not move his arm the day after the incident and five days later – with just a week to go to the Open – he was only capable of hitting 100-yard shots. Very tentatively.
The injury meant that he could swing only at approximately half-power, which necessitated a recalibration of the distances he could expect with each club .
It also required him to put to the back of his mind the apprehension that – on any given shot – the shoulder might pop out again.
He knew that he required “a miracle” to qualify for the weekend, but when the expected happened, despite shaving 11 shots off his opening score for his two-under-par 69, he did not head straight back home to Huddersfield that night.
Instead he stayed to soak up the Open atmosphere from the perspective of both a player and spectator.
“I went to the range on Saturday to hit balls and I was sandwiched between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, so it was good good to hit some balls in between them,” he said.
“Later I walked outside the ropes on Saturday just to get a feel for it. It was good to see both sides of the ropes – but I know definitely on which side I belong.
“The aim now is to get the fitness back [he will see a specialist today for an update], and get back on the European Tour.”