Murphy’s blemish-free round sets up optimistic weekend in Aberdeen

A bogey-free round of 69 puts Gary Murphy in a strong position heading into the weekend’s play at the Staysure PGA Seniors Championship at the Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeen.

Murphy currently sits six shots off the lead with Peter Baker setting the pace, but the Irishman is only two shots behind second-placed Greg Owen.

Murphy’s second round got off to the best possible start with a birdie on his first hole of the day but he failed to extend his hot streak on the remaining holes on his front nine.

Murphy would play 11 consecutive holes to par – eight on his front nine and three on the back – before he began to make movements towards the business end of the leaderboard.

A birdie on the fourth – Murphy’s 13^th hole of the day – put the Irishman onto two-under-par and would improve his score further with another birdie on the seventh as he finished an impressive round of golf on the second day of action in Scotland.

Murphy sits tied with Germany’s Thomas Gögele and prepares for his first three-ball of the weekend which consists of France’s Lionel Alexandre and Scotland native, Stephen Laurie.

Peter Baker and Greg Owen hold the top two spots on the leaderboard, while the trio of Andrew Oldcorn, Stephen Dodd and Michael Campbell occupy the third spot on four-under-par.

With Murphy being one of only 11 players who scored below par after the opening two rounds, Murphy will feel confident that he can bridge the gap between himself and the leader Baker either through his positive play or through the near-inevitable dropped shots for his opponent across the weekend.

Unfortunately, Murphy would be the only of the Irish contenders that will be in with a shout of a positive finish in Aberdeen, with David Higgins and Damian Mooney struggling in their second round.

Higgins and Mooney shot rounds of 80 and 78 respectively as they continued to fall down the leaderboard.

Murphy begins his third round of golf at 14:05 on Saturday, hoping that come the end of the weekend he will have his eyes firmly on claiming a Legends Tour victory.