Murphy in contention in Majorca

Ireland’s Gary Murphy is clinging to the hope that his season is finally about to have lift-off.

Forced to return to the European Tour qualifying school for the first time in seven years last November, the 37-year-old from Kilkenny was relieved to win back his card with only a single stroke to spare.

But in 10 starts since then Murphy has missed eight halfway cuts and not finished in the top 40 of the other two. With earnings of just €7,000 he is down in 246th place on the money list.

Now he is at Pula in Majorca and a two-under-par 68 took him into today’s second round in joint third place three strokes behind South African James Kingston.

“It’s been pretty drastic really,” said the former Irish amateur champion. “It’s been pretty hard to take at times, but I’ve struggled with the change in grooves.

“I’ve had five sets of irons already, but finally I’ve got a set I feel that are doing what I feel they should do.

“I’ve got good vibes and we’ll just see how things go.”

Murphy finished third in the Irish Open two years ago, the best performance of a career that goes back 15 years, but managed only one top 10 finish all last season.

Kingston ended the opening day two ahead of Alvaro Velasco, while Murphy shared third with another Spanish player, Alejandro Canizares, France’s Raphael Jacquelin and Norwegian Thorbjorn Olesen.