John Murphy will be fighting on two fronts this weekend at the Irish Challenge but he was just relieved to have made his first cut of the season after an eagle and two birdies in a superb back nine effort in torrential rain at the K Club.
Lingering around the cut mark on one-under after three bogeys and a birdie in his first seven holes, Murphy holed out for an eagle on the par-5 10th before birdies on the 14th and par-3 17th saw him move to within five shots of Joakim Lagergren on five-under as he signed for a morale boosting 70 to share 12th place.
“It was nice to finish strong. It wasn’t easy out there, just had to stay patient, there was loads of chances out there but that golf course can bite you fairly quickly,” said Murphy who made his first cut in his twelfth start of the season and just his fifth cut in two years.
“Made a lot of good decisions out there, I have Hugh O’Hare on the bag this week who I went to college with so we made good decisions and played lots of good golf.
“I couldn’t have played the 10th much better in the worst of the weather. Hit a good tee shot, good second about 30 yards short and it pitched in so that was very satisfying because around the end of the front nine I felt a couple of things didn’t go my way and I couldn’t get anything going so nice to pick up a couple there.
“It’s just nice to be going into the weekend on home soil full stop, it’s been a tough spell over the last however long. I haven’t got anything going, struggled with confidence so trying to find ways to pick that up. I have a good chance this weekend to shoot some good numbers and make a few birdies so looking forward to giving it a go.”
Murphy has leapfrogged ahead of close friend Mark Power as the leading Irishman heading into the weekend. Opportunities are big for the Kinsale man with the leading Irishman on Sunday evening taking home the Christy O’Connor Jnr trophy and a place in the Amgen Irish Open in Royal County Down next month.
“I have to focus on myself for now. Whatever anybody else does they do. I feel like I am in a good position heading into the weekend, happy with where my game is at and where it’s heading so looking forward to getting up and at it again.”
The 26-year-old’s struggles have begun from the tee box this season but he might just have found the secret formula. Ground hurling.
Murphy has found his groove with the driver off the deck from the tee and he hopes to keep the ball on the deck over the weekend.
“I have been struggling with driver the last while and been thinking about my swing a lot which doesn’t help me as such. I would come in from a practice or round one and start looking at videos of my swing and I’m trying to get away from that as much as possible.
“If I put a ball on the ground I have to use talent as much as possible to hit it and that’s what I’ve done this week and I’ve been hitting it really well. Looking forward to playing more ground hurling over the weekend.”
Murphy’s 2021 Walker Cup teammate Power is a shot further back on four-under after a round of 71 while Liam Grehan and Jonathan Caldwell are safely into the weekend.