Cork Golf: John Murphy and James Sugrue back in tour action

JOHN Murphy had another frustrating week on the Challenge Tour, playing some good golf but missing the cut in the Delhi Challenge by a single shot.

 Murphy was playing in his second event and travelled to Delhi in India for the fifth event on the 2024 schedule, he missed the cut by one shot in his opening tournament in the NMB Championship two weeks ago.

Murphy started brightly on Thursday with three birdies in his first nine holes. His second nine was more mixed though with four bogies and just two birdies. He started his second round with an eagle on the 3rd but two bogies meant he was back on level par after nine. He showed a deft touch on the back nine, holing three birdies to finish on -3, but that was one outside the cut mark leaving Murphy with the weekend off.

Murphy along with caddie Shane O’Connell are still in India, they travelled to Kolkata earlier in the week for the Kolkata Challenge. 

The 2021 Walker Cup player will have a two-week break before the tour returns to Abu Dhabi for two events in April. 

Murphy is playing with a Category 12 card this season and struggled to get into the field in the co-sanctioned events in South Africa. He should have no problem getting starts from April when the tour returns to Europe.

Nineteen tournaments take place from May to September with two events taking place in Ireland. Galgorm will again host the Northern Ireland Open at the end of July and the Irish Challenge takes place in the K Club in August. Murphy will have fond memories of the 2022 Irish Challenge which took place on the Palmer South course, he finished third on that occasion and that led him to a series of good results which saw him qualify for the Rolex Grand Final.

Murphy, after a poor 2023 on the DP World Tour will be looking to bounce back in 2024. The Kinsale golfer had half a season on the Challenge Tour in 2021 after turning pro that May after the Walker Cup, and he secured a full card for 2022. In 2022 he finished in the top 40 on the final order or merit and earned a full DP World Tour card for 2023 after qualifying from Q School. His first season on Europe’s top tour was tough, missing several cuts and failing to build any momentum.

COMPANY

Murphy has plenty of Irish company on the tour this year. As well as O’Connell who has soldiered with him since he turned pro in 2021, Waterford’s Gary Hurley is also on the Challenge Tour this year and Conor Purcell from Portmarnock is also on the second tour following a good showing last year. All three will be hoping for a good summer and progression to the Grand Final in Mallorca and hopefully onto the main tour for 2025.

James Sugrue is looking forward to returning back to the Alps Tour next month, the Mallow golfer was sidelined for much of 2023 with a back issue but the 2019 Amateur Championship winner is fit again and ready for the second series of Alps events in Italy.

“After being out for so long I’m looking forward to getting back on the course," said Sugrue. 

I had a good off-season and I’ve got lots done over the last few months that will hopefully make this season a good one." 

Sugrue recently picked up a new courtesy car, a Skoda Superb Combi from Eamonn Tarrant and Sons in Banteer.

Sugrue won the biggest prize in amateur golf in 2019 but has struggled to maintain momentum since then. After a positive outing at the Open Championship in Portrush in 2019, his other major appearances at the US Open and the Masters were delayed by Covid. He had a good start to the 2022 season but a niggling back issue forced him to miss several events. The back issue persisted and meant that he played very little tournament golf in 2023. Now fit again, he’s hoping to push on in 2024. 

“I’ve been doing a good bit of gym work trying to strengthen up the problem area, and I’m working away with Michael Collins the whole time.”

He’ll be heading to Spain soon for some warm-weather practice in preparation for the tournaments in Italy.