Alfred Dunhill Championship (10th-13th Dec)

Mister Sifter

Good few Irish in the field - Murphy, McGrane, Lowry. Maybin and Hoey in there too.

Just noticed that Niall Kearney is now first reserve for it.

http://www.europeantour.com/default.sps?pageid=127&pagegid=%7BAEFB93B0%2DEFF5%2D4C05%2DAB0F%2DFD08D947D944%7D&eventid=2009098&infosid=3

jimjo

By god how does Murphy have the energy to go down to play in South Africa after scaling the world in the past few weeks than that amassing to a 6 round tour school when the pressure is unbelievable, a week off surely would be deserved.

Suppose he doesn’t want to be in the same boat next year and get in some early cash.

Curly7

Suppose he doesn’t want to be in the same boat next year and get in some early cash. [/quote]

so does points in this event count towards next seasons order of merit?

PhilipMarlowe

Yes, this is the first event of the 2010 season.
The reason that Murphy, Coltart et al. are down there is that they have a couple of events this side of Christmas and a couple of events in the new year in South Africa before the Middle East swing (Quatar, Dubai, UAE).
If they can get some good results (top 10's?) early on they might qualify to play in the more lucrative events in the middle east.

Although they won cards, the category of card that they won doesn't automatically entitle them to play in all the larger money events. You can see from the entry list to next weeks tournament that Murphy is about 25 places below the last guy in category 8 (which is where he would be had he retained his card).
As far as I know, the ranking of the 'new guys' is also re-shuffled a couple of times in the year too so it's important to play well early on to maintain/improve the quality of your card.

liam12989

I heard from a very good source that Niall will be competing in this weeks competition and next weeks.European tour officals have told him that his place is guaranteed.A fair few must enter these and not bother turning up.

Mister Sifter

liam12989 wrote: »

I heard from a very good source that Niall will be competing in this weeks competition and next weeks.European tour officals have told him that his place is guaranteed.A fair few must enter these and not bother turning up.

Strange. That list has now been updated and Kearney seems to have disappeared altogether.

liam12989

Well i heard this last sat.From someone who was talking to him after Q school unless something had happened in between. Id love to see him do well hes a really nice guy and a very hard worker

In_tuition

David Dixon at 66/1 for me

BillyBoy

Decided to put a few euro each way on Shane Lowry at 70/1. Would be a nice start to the season for him (and me!!)

Aidric

Take Ernie Els out and that's one of the most pitiful line ups for a European Tour event I've seen in a long time.

DU.LLAHAN

BillyBoy wrote: »

Decided to put a few euro each way on Shane Lowry at 70/1. Would be a nice start to the season for him (and me!!)

Same here going for my second win on him :eek: the pressure is on him now.
Realtically what are his chances of a top 5?

BillyBoy

DU.LLAHAN wrote: »

Same here going for my second win on him :eek: the pressure is on him now.
Realtically what are his chances of a top 5?

Well as pointed out above its a weak enough field. Its hard to know with Shane, he is still a bit inconsistent (not having a go, to be expected when he is only relatively new to the pro ranks) but at that price I think its worth a go!!

A New earth

I'll go with you "In tuition" David Dixon it is ( & Louis Oosthuizen)

Mister Sifter

Murphy building new bridge to success

Gary Murphy is ready to hit the ground running in the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa tomorrow having secured his tour card in Spain last week

By Liam Kelly

Wednesday December 09 2009

GARY Murphy gained a Tour reprieve at Qualifying School last week -- and now his aim is to jump-start the 2010 season in South Africa's Alfred Dunhill Championship tomorrow.

One brush with losing his card for the first time after seven years as a regular on the European Tour is enough and the Kilkenny man is set to go into action "with all guns blazing."

He didn't have much time between the finish of the six-round final Tour School qualifying marathon at PGA de Catalunya last Thursday and boarding a plane for South Africa on Monday night.

Murphy wasn't complaining. The experience of recent weeks has put a new edge on Murphy's intentions for the coming European Tour season.

"To be honest it's going to be in my favour to have to start with all guns blazing," he said.

"In the last few years at the start of the season I tended to ease into it and grow a bit of form. Now every week is going to be the British Open for me. I want to keep my card and press on from here."

Murphy will play at Leopard Creek this week and the South African Open in Western Cape next week hoping to bank early Order of Merit cash for 2010.

He finished 17th in the final Tour School, giving him entry to most of the main Tour events, but the intention is to stay well clear of that scramble for playing rights next year.

Murphy (37) is one of those players who has been around for years, yet his top-grade Tour play represents only half of his professional career.

REGULAR

He turned pro in 1995, but has only been a full Tour regular since 2003.

Murphy admits that seven years ago he was "as green as cabbage" and that his game "was not good enough to compete on the Tour," but he hunkered down and learned to live at the top level.

Prior to gaining his card at the 2002 Tour Q-School, Murphy had been a global wanderer as he sought to gain experience and bring his game up to standard.

He played in Asia, Australia and Canada and won his European card for 2000, only to lose it again, and then played two more years on the Challenge Tour.

Since 2003 Murphy has fashioned out a nice a career for himself earning good money, but he tended to rely on a late burst of form to finish well clear of the cut-off point in the rankings.

In 2006 he finished 104th; a year later he was 87th and last year ended the season in 98th position. This year he almost saved himself but ended up in 124th place, thereby requiring a performance at PGA de Catalunya.

He wasn't alone in being a seasoned player thrown into the mix with Challenge Tour players and qualifiers from PQ1 and PQ2.

Simon Khan, Stephen Gallacher, Philip Archer, and former Irish Open winner Patrick Sjoland were in the field, facing six rounds of golf, with a cut-off after four.

It wasn't the way Murphy had wanted to end 2009, but experience paid off.

Reflecting on how he got there, the Louth-based player highlighted swing changes and putting problems. He had some lessons from coach Claude Harmon, brother of Butch, but within a couple of months had decided to "go back to basics" and did not continue with Harmon.

PROBLEMS

Putting difficulties more than anything else contributed to his situation, but with some help from Seapoint pro David Carroll, Murphy rectified that in time for the Tour Q-School.

"I was quite philosophical going into the Tour school. I didn't have a problem there. To me it was just about going out to play at another tournament," Murphy says.

"I didn't have any nervousness. It never crossed my mind about not getting the card. I had a bad start to the sixth round, which put me behind the eight ball, but I just buckled down and was 10 under for the last 34 holes, which was pretty good going," he said.

Murphy's best Tour finish was third place in the 2008 Irish Open at Adare Manor, but despite his lowly finishes in the Order of Merit in recent years, he still has plenty of ambition.

"Dreams can come true. This is what it's all about. That's what keeps me going really. I still feel I'm more than capable of winning a tournament. I believe I have the game to win a tournament," Murphy continues.

"You play sport for a living, but you want to leave some sort of legacy. It's a case of pleasing myself as well. I won't be happy until I win and golf is so fickle.

"For example if I go down to South Africa and win there, then all of a sudden it's 'Murphy had a great year.' Things can turn around so quickly in this game

"Graeme McDowell is a perfect example. He gets into Tiger's tournament completely out of the blue. He plays well and that gets him back into the top 50 in the world and he's in all the big tournaments for next year.

"The main thing is that I've I have a card for next year. Winning it back was important, and now I'm going out to South Africa with my confidence high."

- Liam Kelly

Irish Independent

PhilipMarlowe

No sign of Kearney in the tee times

Curly7

Great start by Shane today, -6 through 13 and tied for second so far. Lets hope he can keep it up. He has definately started to go low lately, now he just needs to try and string 4 low rounds together

Tom Ghostwood

myp2p aint working. Anywhere else I can watch this on the net?

Curly7

not too sure, couldn't find it myself here this morning

mag

lowry finished -5, same as mcgrane. both t4.
slow start again for murphy, even, t68

Tom Ghostwood

myp2p isnt working coz coverage doesnt start for another 10 mins. Im such an idiot

Mister Sifter

Bad start for Murphy today, just doubled his 8th hole to fall to +3 for the day and the tournament. he's parred the 9th but is currently well off the level par cut line so much work to do.

7 pars and a bogey for Lowry, -4 overall.

Mcgrane level through 11 holes to lie -5.

70 for Maybin today to sit on -6.

Coltart -1 for today through 11 to lie -3 overall.

Leader is Pele Edberg on -12.

In_tuition

Dixon +7 for his 3rd round :eek:

f22

In_tuition wrote: »

Dixon +7 for his 3rd round :eek:

Sifter, Licksy and Loft must have had a bet on him!

Mister Sifter

f22 wrote: »

Sifter, Licksy and Loft must have had a bet on him!

Ha... my money actually went on Maybin. He wasn't doing too badly until i posted this.