Gary Hurley and John Murphy will be playing on the DP World Tour next season after securing their cards at the end of six gruelling rounds of Q-School in Infinitum, Tarragona.
Hurley was a comfortable qualifier in a share of 13th place on nineteen-under after a final round of 70 while Murphy put on a back nine charge that demonstrated unbelievable mental strength to shoot 65 and claim 23rd place with the top-25 earning DP World Tour cards.
It’s an incredible story for both players. Hurley had no sponsors this time last year and had no status heading into 2022 while Murphy was outside the top-90 in the Challenge Tour rankings before a third-place finish at the Irish Challenge kickstarted his season.
Hurley’s progression has been remarkable as the 29-year-old had already earned a Challenge Tour card after finishing in the top-5 of the Alps Tour Order of Merit and he was over the moon to finally crack the big time.
“It’s great, I’m already emotional before I even started talking. Yeah I was brilliant today with my approach, my mindset for the whole day, a lot of things tried to pull me away, especially yesterday evening. I had a big reset with my coach yesterday evening and got back to me again.
“That’s who I was today, me. I was happy, smiling on the course, proud of what I’m doing and the way I’m doing it now because it wasn’t so long ago I wasn’t doing it great and playing golf was painful for me so yeah it’s great to be playing on the DP World Tour.
“I was playing on the Alps Tour this year which was a really big step for me as well the way I played and the platform that gave me to secure my Challenge Tour card now I’ve leapfrogged to the main tour which is great, I’m so happy,” added the West Waterford native.
Kinsale native Murphy had been on the outside looking in all week after five rounds which had not yielded the scores he felt his tee to green game warranted.
Heading into a sixth and final round, the 24-year-old had to make up four shots to break into the top-25 or face heading back to the Challenge Tour for another season.
After six opening pars, the dream looked to be slipping away but two birdies in three holes kept his slim hopes alive.
Q-School always draws up stories of heroism and this time it was the turn of the Cork man who found his best golf at the right time to come home with four birdies in a back nine of 31 to break onto the DP World Tour.
“It’s mad to be honest, you know, just one of those things you dream of but never know if it’s going to happen,” explained a delighted Murphy after a nervous wait. “I had full faith in myself that I would be on the DP World Tour at some point but certainly didn’t think it would happen this quick.
“I’m really excited and proud of how I dealt with things today and looking forward to starting that journey.
“I trained for moments like this. Did a lot of mental work. Did a lot of physical work to make sure my body could last six rounds and thankfully it did. I feel physically I could go another six rounds, mentally not so much!
“Looking forward to a bit of time off the next few days but I’m just very proud with how I trained for this moment and dealt with the situation.”
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