John Murphy's old head on young Kinsale shoulders: 'I’m playing golf to compete at the top'

A leap of faith that took young John Murphy from Maynooth to Louisville proved the perfect preparation ground for an early assault on the professional ranks

John Murphy during the Emporda Challenge at Emporda Golf Club, Girona, this week. ‘At this stage I don’t play golf to just try and get a card off the Challenge Tour.’ Picture: Octavio Passos/Getty Images

For someone so new to the professional ranks, John Murphy has navigated the fairways with admirable poise and, indeed, even ease to date. Finding his way to the course itself, though, has at least once proved to be trickier.

Last Sunday morning, heading into the final round of the Spanish Open, the 23-year-old Corkman found himself just three shots outside the top 10, only a week after placing that high in the Alfred Dunhill Links championship in St Andrew’s. His routine was working to a tee — until it nearly scuppered his chances of getting to one. About an hour and a half before he was due to tee off, he and his caddy rounded the corner from their Madrid hotel to get into their rented car only to find it wasn’t there. A full-blown street market had taken its place.