‘Exhausted’ Murray realises South dream

Pat Murray’s perseverance was finally rewarded when after 20 years of trying, he finally won the South of Ireland at Lahinch yesterday, defeating Stephen Healy from Claremorris by two holes in the final.

Winning the Irish Close championship, which Murray did in 2009, would normally be the pinnacle of any Irish amateur’s career but that was not the case with Murray.

After all, the Limerick Golf Club secretary/manager had contested seven semi-finals before yesterday and never reached the actual decider, losing at ties holes to people like Jody Fanagan, Ken Kearney and Darren Crowe. So when he came up against Eugene Smith of Ardee at the penultimate stage yesterday morning, he wasn’t sure what to expect and admitted he was under more pressure than in the final.

“Although I’m absolutely exhausted after playing 15 rounds of golf in eight days I couldn’t be happier”, said the 41 year-old Murray.

“This is the pinnacle of my career, the one I always wanted. I probably put a lot of pressure on myself year in, year out, semi-final, quarter-final, semi-final again and again. There was a case of trying too hard on occasions and I was only talking about it over dinner on Tuesday night and into my eighth South semi-final, was I ever going to win one.

“My leg is sore, I am only back since June after an operation for a serious Achilles tendon injury suffered last Christmas, and that tightened up an awful lot. After 14, 15 this morning it was tight but there is nothing I can about that. I’m just supposed to rest it but there was no resting it today.

Murray knew he was facing a difficult opponent in the 21 year-old Stephen Healy, a man who had reached the final of the West of Ireland at Rosses Point at Easter but got off to the ideal start when winning the first two holes. After that, though, Healy dug in and Murray struggled to get his figures and by the turn they were all square with both men out in an approximate three over 39.

Murray edged ahead again at the 12th and protected his advantage at the 13th thanks to a delightful little chip shot from a difficult lie at the back of the green. However, they were back to level pegging after Murray put his approach to the 14th into a bunker.

Healy was forced to concede the short 16th after finding tiger rough to the left of the green and threw away a great chance of squaring the match on the next when he missed a putt of less than two feet. And it was all over when he pulled his second shot out of bounds at the 18th.

“Thirteen was crucial, getting up and down from a difficult spot after getting too aggressive with my second,” said Murray. “Sixteen was a gift and also crucial and then he missed the putt on 17 that I didn’t expect him to miss. I knew when I was one up playing the 18th, I needed to put myself in a position to make four without taking on anything. And that worked out fine.”

Semi-finals: P Murray (Limerick) bt E Smith (Ardee) 3 and 1; S Healy (Claremorris) bt C Fairweather (Knock) 5 and 4.

Final: Murray bt Healy 2 holes.