Ireland’s John Murphy could stand tall in climbing down from the Hills course having posted a three-under 68 on a brutal windswept first day of the torturous six-round final qualifier for a 2023 DP World Tour card in Spain.
Gusts of up to 25kph tested the patience of the 156-player field competing on both the par-72 Hills and the par-71 Lakes courses at the Infinitum club in Tarragona.
Murphy, and among five Irish looking to be among the leading 25 next Wednesday afternoon to earn a full Tour card, toughed out the conditions producing 13 straight pars before playing the closing five with three birdies at the 14th, 16th and final holes.
“It was a nice solid start, plenty fairways and greens, so I will try to keep at that for the week,” said Murphy.
“Certainly, the breeze picked up around the 11th, and it was a two-club wind at times, so I needed plenty of patience. There is no point in forcing anything this early, so it was nice to see that patience pay off at the end.”
If the affable Kinsale golfer a share of 14th place and just three behind two players – Dutchman Dario Antonisse (Lakes) with 65 and Swede Simon Forsstrom (Hills) with a 66 – lead the way at six-under par.
John Murphy pictured after the final round of the Irish Challenge at the Palmer South course at the K Club – Photo: Niall O’Shea
A shot further back with a 70 on the Hills Course is Waterford’s Gary Hurley while 2021 Scandinavian Mixed winner Jonathan Caldwell (Lake course) was happy to post a 71 despite being at three-under with eight holes to play
Caldwell hit two wayward tee shots that cost him a double-bogey ’6’ on the 13th and a bogey on the par-5 16th after he had already dropped a shot on 11.
The 38-year-old, who lost his full playing privileges on the DP World Tour this year, did bounce back with a closing birdie to lie 56th and he remains confident about the remainder of the week.
“I’m pleased enough, two not overly bad tee shots on the back nine cost me three shots so apart from that I am pleased. My game is in reasonable shape,” said Caldwell.
“It was difficult, in practice it has been perfectly calm then all of a sudden we got 25 mile an hour gusts so it was tricky. So it was about adjusting a little bit, the ball wasn’t travelling as far,” he added ahead of a switch to the Hills Course on Friday.
“I will stick to my game plan from practice and see what the weather gives us. We played it flat calm so it will be interesting standing on the hills when the wind blows, it’s a good test and keeping the ball in play is key.
“I’m here to finish top-25 I’ve played on the main tour the last three years and that’s where I envisage myself playing my golf next year but the goal is to finish top-25 I’m not getting ahead of myself.”
Ardglass Cormac Sharvin grabbed back-to-back closing birdies on the Lakes course with a one-over 72 to be sharing of 77th place.
And a rusty Paul Dunne signed for two-over 74 on the Hills course and needing to go low on the Lakes lay-out to lift his current share of 98th place.
