Murphy hopes to reign on return from Spain

Northumberland amateur golfer Adam Murphy has been preparing for the most important round of golf of his life by topping up his golfing skills, and his tan, during a trip to Spain.

The 22-year-old sampled some of the country’s finest courses during a holiday to the continent, returning just in time for a date in the Lombard Trophy on June 19.

Murphy, from Hexham, will play alongside his Tynedale PGA Professional Martin Forster, above, in the Pleasington regional final, one of 16 such events in what is the largest pro-am golf tournament in Europe.

The tournament carries a total prize fund of £80,000, with the winners going on to play in the grand final over Gleneagles’ King’s Course on September 2-3.

And Murphy, who plays off a handicap of 15, is hopeful that he can make an impact after impressing in his club qualifying competition.

“I’m rather excited,” he said. “I’m nervous as it will be my first time playing in this event, but hopefully I can do well.

“Obviously you always go out there to win, and that will be exactly the same here, but I’ll mainly be looking to play some good golf.

“I’ve never played Pleasington before so the course will be new to me, but hopefully that won’t be too much of a problem.

“We were originally going to play at Fulford as I’ve been there a few times, but it clashed with my holiday so we had to find a different date!”

Murphy, a medical electronics engineer by trade, was introduced to the sport by his golfing father and he admitted that taking to the course has given him a good way of relieving the stress of the day job.

“Yeah there is quite a lot of pressure at work,” he admitted. “I think there is with any job in healthcare.

“My main role is to maintain and repair the machinery in the hospital, so we see to things like blood pressure monitors and things like that.

“Obviously you are always aware that you can’t make a mistake, because the cost of that error could be huge.

“But playing golf is a great way to get away from any stresses you have because you can just go out onto the course and enjoy yourself.”

Other pairings competing at Pleasington include: Andrew Baguley and Mark Riley (a) (Leigh), Darren Hopwood and Mike Stones (a) Penwortham, Gareth Lewis and Iwan Lewis (a) Royal St Davids, and Nigel Onions and Len Barnett (a) Wolstanton.