On tour

It’s been an interesting few years since the Northern Golfer team first met Howley Hall’s Marcus Armitage in 2014.

Our publisher Gary Ramsay played in the pro am with Marcus ahead of the Dawson & Sanderson Travel Classic at Longhirst – which he won – before Marcus gained back-to-back promotions through the EuroPro rankings and Challenge Tour. Now the 29-year-old is competing with – and getting snaps with – his idols on the European Tour. Speaking to the Tour at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic having met and practised alongside 14-time major champion Tiger Woods – Marcus said: “It was pretty cool. I just went and hit some balls next to him and let him do a bit of work, and then asked him for his autograph and had a little chat.

“There was no reason for me to be nervous next to Tiger – he’s just a human at the end of the day. He actually watched a few of the drives that I hit as well – I just caught him having a glance, but I was smashing it to be fair.”