Ambitious Murphy marches on
Their timing could not have been better, for their golf prospered so well in 2003 they have no immediate financial worries. Fifty-ninth place in the order of merit was worth €270,000 to Murphy and just as importantly, the retention of his card for 2004.
"It was very solid all-round", says Kilkenny man Murphy. "I missed five cuts but there were only two tournaments where I didn't really compete, Qatar and Portugal.
"Making the top 60 at the end of the year was the goal once I had clinched my card.
"I concentrated on my own game and the big break came in the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond. It was the second biggest money tournament of the year. I played steady golf for the first two days and really, really well at the weekend.
"I partnered Darren [Clarke] on the Saturday and learned an awful lot.
"He shot 64 and yet I almost matched him.
"I really enjoyed it and was relaxed about it on the Sunday. You're always nervous but I just went out and played.
"Iain Pyman was my partner and he knocked it in the water at the last and took seven. He ended up winning stg£1,300 between then and the end of the season. He spent 58 grand on that hole alone and was the last man to get his card. That goes to show just how fickle the whole thing is."
Some might think the strange looking golf ball and the glass headed putter is quirky, but Gary insists otherwise.
Said Murphy: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It looks bigger." Surely then, I ventured, that makes the hole look smaller? "But you're not looking at the hole when you're hitting the ball. As for the glass putter, it misbehaved dramatically over the last few weeks of the season, so we're in negotiations at the moment."
The 2002 season shines out like a beacon for Murphy. In truth, low points have dominated his career even if he did win the Asian Tour School in the Philippines in 1997 and retained his card for the two years he played there.
In 2000, he shot a very respectable stroke average of 72.78 on the European Tour and picked up €89,000 in prize money and still finished only 136th on the money list.
"I've had rough days but I've always soldiered on and I think that's standing to me now", he muses. "There's a lot of hype out there, television, newspapers, people but I enjoy it.
"No matter whether you're 20 shots ahead or one, you still have to hit the ball. You're only as good as what's gone before. I think that's the safety valve in a sense.
"I always knew there were areas where I needed to improve and I was very fortunate to have a sponsor like Finn O'Sullivan of Irish Express Cargo who gave me the opportunity to go and play.
"I wouldn't be standing here talking to you were it not for his help. Team Ireland Trust came in as well and Brendan McDaid is a great coach. So I've been very lucky. You can ride your luck for so long but then you've got to deliver."
That's what he did in 2002. That magnificent fourth place finish in the Scottish Open was instrumental in getting Murphy straight into the British Open at Royal St Georges. Just to qualify for such an event filled him with joy and expectation. Elaine was there and so were his hugely supportive parents J.D. and Anne.
But in the final analysis, Gary wasn't all that pleased at the way things panned out.
He stresses: "If you said to me on the first of January that I'd be disappointed at finishing 32nd in the British Open, I'd have thought you were mad.
"But I've always felt I could do it. Now everybody thinks the same thing but they've still got to go and do it and I could and should have done better.
"Then I had a really good chance to win the Dutch Open this year until I hit a bad tee shot at ten, took double out of the blue, and ended up finishing 6th."
Gary has steered clear, so far anyway, of the mind gurus so popular with his fellow Irishmen Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington.
Always a tad on the burly side, he works on his fitness levels with the Seapoint professional David Carroll and figures out the mental side for himself.
"You get so many knocks", he mused. "My dad uses a phrase that his dad taught him try jumping over the fences instead of knocking them.
"I knocked over a lot of fences before I started jumping over them.
"It's not rocket science. A lot of people get caught up in the hype. I see a lot of good players thinking they're something they're not.
"It's not essential by any means, but with so much travel and absence from home, it helps when your wife/partner is interested in the game."
Gary has no problems in this regard given Elaine's rich pedigree. "We go on honeymoon to Mauritius in the first two weeks of January and I will do a bit of practice there.
"Don't worry, Elaine is very supportive," he laughs. "I won't play the South African events and will start my season in Thailand at the end of January. It's on then to Australia for two weeks before Dubai in March and then we come home.
"I played 25 tournaments in 2003 and it will be about the same in the new year. You pick and choose."
As for goals, there isn't much change on '03. He will seek to retain his card quickly, then think about the top 60.
And, needless to say, the icing on the cake would be a first tournament victory.
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