Chandler brush-off motivated Murphy

REMEMBER the late James Hunt, the former Formula One motor racing champion?

He was famous for having an advertising logo on virtually every part of his clothing. He made a fortune from that alone. Nowadays, a number of leading European Tour golfers are following suit. Between their apparel and their golf bag, they hardly have an inch of space left.

Compare that with the lesser lights on the tour, guys like Kilkenny's Gary Murphy who last week battled his way back on to the tour having literally had to sponsor himself over the preceding 12 months!

Around this time last year, he received a terse note from Chubby Chandler, chief of the ISM management group, revealing that he would no longer be handling Gary's affairs. Another Irishman, Peter Lawrie, who is now also on tour having come through the Challenge Tour qualifying route, was given the same treatment by Chandler and admitted recently: "I felt abandoned."

Murphy must be made of sterner stuff. He told me: "Business is business. I wasn't doing anything for Chubby so he couldn't do anything for me. There are no hard feelings." But the brush-off from Chandler made the sponsorless Murphy sit up and realise that he had a decision to make either to fund himself or give it all up.

"I went to the bank manager, took out a loan and lived off my credit card," he revealed. "In a way, I was sponsoring myself. I got into the Great North Open on the regular circuit and played great for three days at Slaley Hall. I shot rounds of 72, 69, 71 to stand four off the pace and 6th going into the final round.

"My ambition at the very least was a top ten finish which would automatically put me straight into the Murphys Irish Open the following week. But disaster struck at the 8th hole where I ran up a nine and even though I came home in par from there to tie 18th for €11,000, I still missed out on the Irish Open because I didn't receive an invite to Fota Island. Furthermore, I worked it out that a par at the 8th would have earned me a further stg£27, 000. I was very down after that."

Murphy, however, is the resilient type and he was on a high again after being the beneficiary of a very nice gesture from Smurfits, the sponsors of the European Open. "I spoke to the Tour about an invite to The K-Club but they couldn't help," he revealed.

"However, Michael Smurfit junior and Helen O'Brien stepped in and declared that they wanted me in the field. They were like a fairy godmother to me. My game was solid going to The K-Club. I finished in a share of 30th spot and won €24,000 and I was able to live off that for the rest of the year. That tournament owed me one. The previous year I finished in a Jumbo jet, 7, 4, 7, to miss the cut by one. I made €35,000 on the Challenge Tour which covers your expenses but not your living costs."

Murphy turned 30 in October and now believes he has the experience and self-belief to make a success of this, his second chance at the major tour.

"I wasn't at all surprised at finishing 5th at the Tour School," he insists. "I knew I had the game and the experience. Coping emotionally wasn't easy, though. Seeing your peers from your amateur days doing so well makes you wonder. My coach Brendan McDaid has been a big help while my dad remains an enormous influence."

The said dad is J.D. Murphy, a very useful performer himself in his day on the amateur circuit, who has been recovering well from a serious car accident a couple of years ago and, understandably, was delighted with his son's performance at the Tour School.

"He gets the most out of me," agreed Gary who added with a big grin: "Winning back my card will do a lot for his morale and will be a little cheaper on him as well. Seriously, though, it will cost in the region of 80, 000 to play the tour. In the past, the Sports Council has been very helpful but from next year on, it looks like they will only support those on the Challenge Tour and I suppose that's the way it should be. You can get broke on that circuit very quickly but it's still a great breeding ground. It's great to know that Ireland will have seven players on the main tour next year, three of whom qualified in the last few weeks."

The other two, of course, are Peter Lawrie and Damien McGrane who also came through the Tour School. Murphy has already begun his preparation for 2003 by travelling to South Africa where he hopes to play in a few events before moving on to Australia for tournaments in Melbourne and Sydney. Fifth place at the School gives Murphy a very strong card and he hopes to have plenty of euro and points in the bank before the "graduate" are re-ranked after the French Open at the end of June.

"I made a big mistake in 2000 by playing too many tournaments in a row. The top players compete in about 20 events but those coming out of the School think they need to play in everything, maybe more than 30, because of the need to make as many points as possible. You have to be more selective and I will be."