I always believed in myself, says jubilant Murphy

THE money is great but it’s the congratulations of his peers that really matters.

That was Gary Murphy philosophising last night on what his fourth place finish in Sunday's Scottish Open really meant to him. The 30-year-old from Kilkenny picked up almost 160,000 in prize money to bring his season's earnings to 261,973, bumping him up to 49th in the order of merit and clinched his card for the 2004 campaign.

In many ways, there was a fairytale touch to what happened at Loch Lomond. Murphy's plan was to come straight to Sandwich for the Open Championship qualifiers, believing that as first reserve he had little chance of getting into the Scottish.