John Murphy made a superb start to the opening round of the Clutch Pro Tour’s Motocaddy Masters at Heythrop Park, and the Kinsale man finds himself in a share of the lead.
Events in the Middle East forced the cancellation of the planned start to the campaign, but Murphy managed to hit the ground running in England, carding birdies on five of his opening nine holes to make the turn at five-under.
A steady start to the front side – his back nine – saw him par the opening three, then a set of back-to-back birdies on four and five were followed by another on eight to complete a bogey-free eight-under-par round that set the early clubhouse target and one that only one player was able to match in the afternoon.
“Yeah, I obviously played nicely, and you know, had a couple of things go my way,” Murphy said afterwards. “Obviously made a few putts out there, which you kind of need to do. But yeah, I mean, obviously it’s nice to shoot a good score, but I’m just happy with the work I’m doing and with the people around me and the team around me. So I think that supersedes any score that’s written on the bottom of a card.”
Murphy admitted that the delayed start to the season had energised him and that he was raring to go, even though he expected a little rust to be present.
“Yeah, obviously, you know, everybody’s going to be a bit rusty,” he said. “It’s been a long wait, especially with the events out in the Middle East being cancelled. So I think everybody’s just excited to be here, as am I.
“And yeah, it’s just really nice to be back out competing. You kind of have that refreshed sense of excitement for the game again, which is great. And yeah, just looking forward to trying to continue that as the season continues.”
Murphy sits alongside Jackson Skeen of the United States at the top of the board, with four Englishmen in hot pursuit at -7.
Scoring was hot all over the course, and despite there being a field of 156 players, only the top 50 and ties will advance to play in Thursday’s final round, meaning that the projected cut sits at -3 after round one.
Of the 11 Irishmen in the field, only Robert Brazill sits inside the top 50 along with Murphy. The Kildare man shot a three-under 69 that came with a late bogey, while Tyler Hogarty, Marc Boucher and Dermot McElroy all sit a shot outside the provisional mark on -2.
Alex Maguire has a little further ground to make up after bogeying three of his final five holes to sit on one-under, while Tom Dowdall on level-par and John Ross Galbraith on +2 will need big second rounds if they’re to progress to Thursday.
Brandon St John (+5), Scott Montgomery (+7), and Paul McBride (+11) all look as though they’ve got too much work to do and will merely be seeking improvement in Wednesday’s second round.
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