Gary Murphy fired an opening two-under-par round of 69 in the Vinpearl DIC Legends Vietnam at Vinpearl Resort Nha Trang to finish day one tied for seventh and just three strokes off the lead.
An early bogey wasn’t the start the Kilkenny native was looking for, but he rebounded with back-to-back birdies on the par-5 fifth and sixth holes and made the turn at -1. Without being much of an issue on the opening nine, the wind began to pick up on the back side, blowing in gusts making it tough to commit to shots.
But Murphy made light of this in the early stages of his closing nine, making another pair of birdies on 11 and 12, dropping a shot at the par-3 13th, but immediately getting that back with a birdie-three on 14.
He’d follow up with three consecutive pars, but would frustratingly bogey the last, on the heavily tree-lined layout with hazards aplenty on the island off Vietnam’s eastern coast. Nevertheless, it was an excellent opening effort from Murphy, who lies in a 10-way tie for seventh alongside notable names such as Michael Campbell, Jeev Milkha Singh and current Order of Merit leader and reigning Irish Legends champion Peter Baker.
Baker is on the cusp of wrapping up the Order of Merit title with a week to spare, but Brazilian Adilson da Silva, the only man who can spoil Baker’s party, looks determined to push the Englishman all the way.
Needing a minimum top-five finish and a better placing than Baker, da Silva opened with a five-under 66 that included four birdies and an eagle, as he stormed into the clubhouse lead. He was later joined by Australian Scott Hend and they enjoy a two stroke lead over India’s Jyoti Randhawa and Scot Greig Hutcheon.
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