Local hero Gary Murphy raised his finger to the air as he drained a 20-foot putt for par on the 18th hole to draw a healthy roar from a sizeable crowd as he finished in the top-10 at the OFX Irish Legends in Seapoint.
Having pitched out of the left rough, Murphy dragged a wedge left of the green and after facing a pitch over a mound, he left himself 20-feet for par which saw him finish in style with a celebration to match.
Murphy was just three shots off the lead on four-under at the time and while he was thinking eagle, it was one of his more enjoyable pars as he shared eighth place with a final round of 71.
“It was a bit of a battle down the last, hit it left and could only hit a lob wedge out. I was hitting a little wedge in and felt comfortable over it and the club just got stuck in the ground and went straight left. I had a pretty tough lie and a pretty tough shot so it was nice to get up and down.
“I was thinking three on the tee but that’s golf you’re happy with a par then.”
Teeing off four shots adrift of the overnight lead, Murphy threatened to thrill the local crowd with a final day charge after he birdied the 3rd and 6th holes.
A bogey on the seventh and a par on the par-5 8th halted his momentum and he had a mixed back nine with three birdies and as many bogeys.
“I started off nicely, played really solid. Just got one dodgy lie on seven and pulled it left and didn’t get up and down. Other than that could have been out in two maybe three under. I hit two poor shots on eleven and a bad drive on 13, other than that I wouldn’t have taken a lot of it back, it’s just a thing of getting tech edges right, you need a slice of luck.
“I really enjoyed it, it was really calm out there, I had my mate on the bag [Bo Martin, former caddie to Shane Lowry]. I was happy with the week but disappointed so it could have been a lot more but I’m well used to that at this stage.”
Murphy resides a stones throw away from Seapoint Golf Links who enjoyed another superb week of hosting the event for the second successive year.
The course proved a tough challenge for the players with Sweden’s Patrick Sjoland and Brazilian Adilson Da Silva heading for a playoff on seven-under-par and Murphy admitted a cold putter in a first round of 73 was his undoing.
“I went to Barbados a month ago and it cost me about four grand so it was about a tenner in juice this week. It’s always lovely to play at home, Seapoint have done a superb job, course is good and tricky, bouncy with a bit of wind so it was a test which is reflected in the scoring.
“The first round did the damage, thirty six putts the first round, hit fifteen greens. Not getting off to fast starts is my killer, if I can get off to fast starts I can learn from this experience, I really enjoyed it. I’m trying to do as well as I can and hopefully there’s more to come.”
Meanwhile, David Higgins finished on six-over-par as Peter Lawrie saved the best for last with a two-under 70.
Former Ryder Cup hero Philip Walton carded four bogeys in a row and four birdies in a row in an eventful round of 72.
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