Big Break winner Mark reaching for the stars

MARK MURPHY departs for America tomorrow, hoping his victory on the Golf Channel’s Big Break will provide him with the impetus to become Ireland’s latest golfing star.

The 33-year-old Waterville clubman has been attempting to establish himself on various development tours in the US over the last decade but, having beaten off Canadian Julien Trudeau in the Big Break Ireland final at The K Club, he now has a chance of realising a lifetime’s ambition. The competition took place in the last two weeks of May but Murphy had to keep the result to himself until the final was aired recently.

“That was probably the hardest part,” admitted Murphy as he received a special presentation from his club.

“While it mightn’t be very big here, Big Break is huge in America. Over 50,000 people were trying to get into it so to be one of 12 to actually be selected was an achievement in itself.

“I have been living in the States on and off for the last ten years or so trying to get my break and I was getting to the stage where I was thinking I might just have to look at the next stage of my life.

“Now I’ve an invite to the Moroccan Open in March and the Irish Open in July, and once I go back to America, I’m going to work on getting a manager and getting a few more invites. This really is the big break I’ve been looking for, as well as winning €70,000, winning €20,000 worth in other prizes and getting a clubs deal with Adams Golf.

“I know it’s going to be a very long year, with a lot of travelling ahead of me but I’m going to do whatever it takes.”

Whatever happens, Murphy has already earned a degree of fame from his appearance in the show, which is watched by around 500,000 viewers.

“I was standing in New York during rush hour, trying to get to 37th and 5th from 27th and 3rd. I was holding my phone in the air, trying to get the GPS to work when next thing I heard ‘Hey Murph, you lost?’

“It was someone who’d seen me on Big Break. He brought me to where I wanted to go and I got an email from him that night and all. It was one of the funniest things that ever happened to me.”