The Irish Golf Club Gazette: 07/13/14

7/13/2014

Murphy Masters Second at Motocaddy

Mark Murphy carded a final-round 72 on the par 71 course of the PGA Europro Tour Motocaddy Masters last Friday, taking home a cheque for £3,750 and one of Motocaddy’s recently launched M1 Lite Push Trolleys.

Winner, Neil Chaudhuri, claimed his first professional title with victory in the HotelPlanner.com PGA EuroPro Tour’s Motocaddy Masters at The Carrick on Loch Lomond.

The Leicester golfer collects £10,000 and a brand new top-of-the-range Motocaddy M3 Pro after finishing eight under par for his 54 holes, four clear of his nearest challengers. Mark Murphy and two-time European Tour winner Bradley Dredge shared second on four under.

Chaudhuri (www.specialisteyes.co.uk) began the day one clear of Murphy on six under, and shot a final-round 69 for two under,

Dredge carded the best round of the day, a four-under 67 and takes home the same amount of £3,750 and a brand new Motocaddy S1 PRO. As Dredge and Murphy tied for second the Motocadd ytrollies were awarded based on Order of Merit position.

Winner Chaudhuri had led for most of the tournament and maintained control throughout the final round with birdies at 14 and 15 seeing him pull away from the challenge of Dredge, who carded a four-under final-round 67.

“It is my first win in nearly five years as a professional,” said Chaudhuri. “It means a lot because I really struggled for my first couple of years as a pro. I stuck at it and I feel really proud to have won today.

“I went to Qualifying School earlier in the year and only just got my card, so I felt lucky to be playing on the Tour this year. I have been improving week on week and it went pretty well this week.

“You have to avoid the bunkers here, they are so severe. I stuck to the same game plan all week and that was to go for accuracy.

“It is such a huge first prize to win £10,000 and that bumps you towards the top of the Order of Merit. A lot can change in a week. Ultimately I want to be on the European Tour and what we are all here for is to get onto the Challenge Tour and be one step away from the European Tour.”

Neil Fenwick (Dunbar Golf Club), James Maw (Rockliffe Hall) and Max Williams (Cuddington Golf Club) shared fourth on one under, while Nick McCarthy’s second-round 65 (-6) has been confirmed as a new course record at The Carrick.

Highlights of the Motocaddy Masters air on Sky Sports at 8pm on Tuesday, July 22 with repeats throughout the following day. The HotelPlanner.com PGA EuroPro Tour stays in Scotland and moves to Royal Burgess in Edinburgh, with the three-day tournament running from Wednesday, July 23.

Lowry Leads Irish as Rory Recovers

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Shane Lowry leads the Irish challenge at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open after a round three 68 to hold a share of seventh place ahead of the final round, and trailing the leader Justin Rose by five strokes.

Lowry reached the turn in 34 and matched repeated the same on the way home, only dropping three shots all day.

Michael Hoey added a consecutive 74 to drop down the leaderboard after a bright start on Thursday when he carded just two more strokes than McIlroy's record breaking 64.

Rory McIlroy declared himself happy with his Open preparations after rediscovering his form in the third round of the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open.

McIlroy continued a worrying trend of following a superb opening round with a terrible second one at Royal Aberdeen, shooting a course-record 64 on Thursday and a seven-over-par 78 on Friday.

The 25-year-old responded with a 68 on Saturday to lie seven shots off the lead on three under par, but was happy to take the positives ahead of next week's Open at Hoylake.

"I've shot 64 and a 68 on this golf course, which are two really good scores," said the Northern Irishman. "Yesterday was just one of those days where nothing really went right. I couldn't get any momentum.

"It would be nice to shoot another good one tomorrow, but I feel good with my game and I saw enough positives in there to give me confidence going into the Open.

"I feel much more prepared going into next week. Coming in here I was hitting these shots that I needed into the wind on the range and hitting them perfectly, but today I hit a couple that weren't so good.

"Hitting them in practice and hitting them under the gun are two completely different things and being able to do that over the past three days and tomorrow as well can only help going into next week.

"It's just about getting rid of these bad stretches of holes or these bad second rounds or whatever it is. If I can get rid of that, then there's no reason why I can't go next week and really contend."

Darren Clarke carded a seventy to lie 26th on 1 under par.

Gareth Maybin fired a third round 69 to nudge up to a share of 38th.

Padraig Harrington was 50th with Damien McGrane twenty places further adrift after a round of of 74.

Kevin Phelan's 78 on Saturday placed him 76th.