Murphy determined to end Tour win wait on home soil

GARY MURPHY is as proud a Kilkenny man as they come, especially on All-Ireland SHC final day, but for several years he has lived in the little village of Baltray outside Drogheda and within 300 yards of the famous links.

Gary married into the illustrious Reddan family in 2003 – his wife, Elaine, is a niece of local hero Barry Reddan and they have a three year-old daughter, Hollie – and has been a fixture there ever since.

As gregarious a character as one could meet, he settled there comfortably although yesterday admitted: “I’ll always be a Kilkenny man here even if I win ten majors.”

But this weekend, Murphy would settle for a first tournament win on the European Tour. He has retained his card since coming through the Tour School in 2002, but has never finished better than 59th in the order of merit. He has made a habit of saving his bacon with one or two good performances and the 2008 Irish Open was a case in point as he came home in third before finishing 89th in the money list.

“As I haven’t won yet on Tour, that’s my number one goal along with a top-50 finish in the order of merit. I’ve been out here nine years and to be without a win is disappointing, especially with the Irish guys doing so well last year.

“There’s nothing I can do about it, only keep trying and see what happens.”

But Murphy isn’t going to lose sleep about the situation: “There are a lot of people worse off than me. This is the best job in the world when you’re playing well and feels like the worst when you’re not. But I’m thankful to be in a position to possibly change my life every week.”

Murphy plans to feed off the considerable degree of support he will enjoy during the tournament.

“The village is fantastic and a great place to be when you’re not playing tournaments. I probably play two or three times here with friends. It’s a unique golf course, They don’t build them like this any more because they can’t. But I don’t think the familiarity it has for the Irish players will be an advantage.

“Brett Rumford won with 14 under last time and it was playing tough then. The standard gets better all the time and if it’s benign out there some day, I wouldn’t be surprised to see someone go mad”.