FIPPA Newsletter - December 2006.

Welcome to this edition of the FIPPA Newsletter.

article 1 - article 2 - article 3 - article 4 -
article 5 - article 6 - article 7 - article 8 -

Ray Murphy - Historic Double.

When 39 year old Corkman Ray Murphy led Ireland to victory over Holland at Papendal in October, it was the culmination of the most successful year in a truly outstanding Pitch and Putt career, which has been on an upward curve ever since he took a club in his hand as a teenager back in 1982.
In 2006, the Templebreedy ace won both Irish titles, the first player since fellow Corkman Mick Forrest to take the Irish Strokeplay and Matchplay championships in a single season.
Ray Murphy regained the Irish Matchplay championship title with a 2 holes verdict over fellow Cork Inter-County player John Walsh (Collins) in the final at Fermoy in June. In the second consecutive all-Cork final (the twelfth in all), Murphy (champion eight years ago) and 2002 winner Walsh were all square after 18 holes – Murphy having missed a plethora of straightforward birdie putts. Ray holed from four feet for birdie on the 28th to move one ahead. The Blarney resident made another birdie from six feet at the 30th as uncharacteristic Walsh putting errors left him two down with seven to play. Murphy pitched to within inches at the 53 metre 14th for a conceded birdie and a three up lead with just four left. Walsh (like Murphy a former No. 1 ranked player and previously an Irish Strokeplay champion) holed a six footer at the 33rd and pitched dead at the 35th to be one down with one to play. With the honour, Walsh pitched very disappointingly to the final hole. From the front right bunker, he could only make bogey and conceded Murphy’s fifteen footer for birdie.

A final round of eight under par 46 four weeks later at Larkspur Park earned Murphy a three stroke win in the National Strokeplay championship over Hillview’s James Cleary. Two round leader John Walsh and 2002 champion William Buckley Junior self destructed at Larkspur Park’s treacherous final hole.
With two Strokeplays (2000 and 2006) and Matchplays in 1998 and 2006, Murphy stands just one behind Sean Downes in the all-time list. With Inter-County and Inter-County successes also on his CV, Ray Murphy needs just the Irish Mixed Foursomes medal to hold a complete set of Irish titles. And he has been second in that – he and his wife Linda (mother of their two children) finished just behind Paul Bray and Liz Quinn at St. Bridget’s in 2001.
Ray Murphy is one of the most consistent performers ever in Ireland’s National Strokeplay. He boasts two wins, two seconds and three thirds for a phenomenal seven top three placings since 1994.

Ray Murphy will forever remember Saturday May 5th 2001. His Ireland team won the second European Team championship at the Lloret Papalus course, north of Barcelona.  Two matches to one down after the morning foursomes in the final to hosts Catalonia, the Irish grabbed five of the afternoon's six singles to clinch a memorable victory.  James Marshall of Catalonia pitched to eighteen inches at the home hole to defeat Sean Harkins one up in the top singles.  That gave the Catalans a 3-1 advantage but wins by Derry McCarthy and by Irish skipper Ray Murphy (comfortably over the Catalan star of the previous day Gines Fernandez) levelled matters.  Chris Scannell and Mark Millar gave Ireland the five points they needed for victory with wins over Ramon Carrera and Marc Lloret Ireland's vital point in the morning foursomes was supplied by the all-Cork pairing of Chris Scannell and the proud captain Ray Murphy.
In September 2006, Cork once again confirmed their supremacy at the top of Pitch and Putt’s elite. Ireland’s Pitch and Putt team won their fourth Irish Inter-County title in a row. It was the Leesiders’ fifth win in six years (and they lost that one on the tiebreaker). The modern Cork quintet emulated the Cork 1974-77 four in a row side and also maintained their remarkable record of not finishing outside the top two since 1994.

The Templebreedy titan Ray Murphy has soldiered on every one of those Cork teams. He shared in the 1997, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 title successes as well as a phenomenal seven second places. Ray Murphy has been the top scorer for Cork on five of those thirteen occasions while that honour has also fallen to four times.
Murphy also has an international Open win to his credit. The 2004 Dutch Open at Arnhem went to a sudden death play-off.  Ray Murphy, who made up ten shots on halfway leader Darren Collins (St. Anne's) over the third and fourth rounds, won the coveted inaugural Dutch Open title.  The Cork pair had tied on 206, ten under par. 
In 2004 Ray Murphy became the fifth player in history to win the Cork Strokeplay and Matchplay in a single season. Murphy’s 3&2 Matchplay final success over St. Anne’s ‘phenom’ Kieran Dunscombe (added to his Strokeplay success at Douglas earlier in the year) meant he joined a select group. The feat was achieved by T.J. O’Riordan (1965), Matty McDonnell (1972), John O’Leary (1983) and Chris Scannell (1990).
The honour to captain Ireland (at Papendal) again was entirely appropriate. Ray Murphy has earned 24.5 points internationally for Ireland in a twelve year career stretching back to the encounter with Australia at Fermoy in 1994. Again, only Downes has scored more. Ray, who was previously Ireland’s No. 1 ranked player in 1999, 2000 and 2002, will be honoured at Thurles next February with his fourth No. 1 ranking award.



(by John Manning)