Gary Murphy cut a slightly frustrated figure after signing for an opening two-over 74 on day one of the NI Legends at Galgorm Castle, even though he’s by no means out of the running on that number.
“Yeah, I was out early and I played lovely, played really controlled, and kept the ball in front of me. I was never really in any danger, and turned at one-under,” he explained.
“10 is a very difficult par-5 – like I was hitting 7-iron in for my third shot, so you’re always thinking a par-5’s a birdie hole, but that one’s not really – so par wasn’t bad there, then I had one bad swing on 11 – a bad second shot, didn’t hole the putt and I’d putted lovely up to that – and then I had a few chances coming in and didn’t take them.
“16 was playing pretty tough, dropped a shot there, rimmed the hole with a par putt, and sloppy three-putt on 17.
“So yeah, two-over, but I felt like I left three or four shots out there so I’ve got to improve on that tomorrow.”
On a more positive note, having put a new driver in play, he’s continuing to find fairways and launch it a long way. Murphy’s prowess of the tee has traditionally been one of his greatest strengths, and the confidence that he’s gleaning from seeing his new driver perform the way he hoped could prove invaluable over the next 36 holes.
“Whenever you put a new driver in the bag, there’s always that element of, ‘Is it going to perform when the gun goes’. And it did. I drove it great and hit my irons nicely.
“It’s just Galgorm… It’s a hard game of golf here. I was looking at the leaderboard there on 18 and the standard is great out here. I would’ve been really happy to break par today, but that still would’ve probably been a few behind. But hopefully the wind stays up for the afternoon and I won’t be too far back.”
Though Murphy was out in the second group in the morning, the wind was a constant factor throughout and with gusts measuring north of 50 kmph, gauging distance was a challenge.
“On 17, I had 138 yards to the flag,” he recalled. “I was trying to play it like a little chippy 8-iron – playing a 150 shot – and it comes up eight yards short of the flag. When I hit it, I thought it was fine. I hit it the way I wanted to hit it, but the breeze caught it and it came up well short.”
Despite the frustrations of two bogeys in his final three holes and several putts burning the edge – including one for birdie on the last – the atmosphere was good on the course and that was due in part to Murphy’s caddie.
“I enjoyed it, you know. I had Barry Murphy, a good pal of mine, on the bag, so he kept it light out there. I’m not sure caddying is going to be his career, but we’ll have to have a little team talk later on.
“You know, at this level you’re trying to do as well as you can and sometimes you take it too seriously. So Barry was drafted in to help me out and he did a great job.”
Leave a comment