Murphy setback as clubs arrive late

GARY MURPHY’S Singapore Open preparations were thrown in chaos when his clubs did not arrive until shortly before the tournament teed off.

The Kilkenny-born player received a sponsor’s invite on Monday morning after England’s Chris Wood withdrew due to a leg injury sustained at the Castellon Masters.

Murphy spent yesterday practising with clubs loaned to him by Tour official, Neal Briggs before walking the Sentosa course and joining up with Pádraig Harrington and his pro-am group.

Murphy said: “It’s not the ideal preparation. But that wasn’t the first time I lost my clubs as when I flew from Barcelona to Dublin on Sunday night after the Castellon Masters they were misplaced.

“The clubs finally arrived at 3pm on Monday and then I flew to Heathrow but then the airline failed to get them onto my London flight.

“I was informed by the airline the clubs would arrive at 10.15pm that night but that was no good as my flight to Singapore was leaving at 10pm.”

Murphy was finally reunited with his clubs in the middle of the afternoon. After missing out on finishing in the top 10 in Spain, Murphy was staring at ending his season at next fortnight’s co-sanctioned Australian Masters in Melbourne. Now the 37-year old has an additional tournament to secure his Tour card, in a Singapore event boasting a first prize of €554,000.