Pat Murray: winner of the Irish Close Championship in June

PAT MURRAY has the ideal opportunity to show the Irish selectors the error of their ways in the 108th South of Ireland Championship which begins at Lahinch today.

Murray’s omission from the six-man European Championship team – on the day in June when he cruised to an emphatic victory in the country’s flagship event, the Irish Close – seemed a remarkable decision.

Murray, the 37-year-old Limerick Golf Club secretary/manager, was passed over for six full-time golfers. And to compound the sense of injustice felt not just by Murray but all those who work for a living and play golf in their spare time, Ireland not alone failed to complete a hat-trick of European Championship wins at Conwy in North Wales but they didn’t even qualify for Flight One.