Jack Murphy from Douglas became the youngest winner of the BoyleSports Lee Valley Scratch Cup last weekend, the 18 year old beat all before him as he cruised to a four stroke victory.  The 18 year old has won plenty of boys events and team events, but this was his first win in a mens event.  It was an impressive wire to wire win, Murphy led after Saturday’s opening round and never let go of the lead.  Kevin LeBlanc, Andrew McCormack and James Walsh were his nearest challengers, but none of then could get close enough.

It was an impressive display from the teenager.  He started with a three under par 69 to hold the joint lead after the opening round.  The opening round was a mixed bag with just seven pars.  Murphy had seven birdies and four bogeys on Saturday morning to finish on three under.

Gallery: BoyleSports Lee Valley Scratch Cup R3

The Douglas man was tied with clubmate James Walsh for the lead after the first 18, after he had four birdies and a bogey.  Unfortunately for Walsh he drifted out in the second round carding a one over par 73.

Murphy kept the momentum going in the afternoon, and an eagle 3 on the 15^th helped him to another 69 and a four stroke lead going into Sunday’s final round.  One his heels were Andrew McCormack and James Walsh, with Caolan Rafferty a further shot behind.

Gallery: BoyleSports Lee Valley Scratch Cup R3

Sunday started in dramatic fashion, Murphy’s bogeys on the second and fifth, and a birdie by Walsh saw the lead cut to one.  Crucially birdies for Murphy on the 8^th and 9^th restored his lead and he came home in one over, knowing he always had a margin of a few shots.

Murphy was one to watch, in last year’s scratch cup he finished third last year having made very few mistakes.  While the teenager likes Lee Valley, he had struggled with form this in the early events this year.

“I struggled a couple of weeks ago” explained Murphy, but I’ve put a lot of work in last few days and it definitely paid off.  I was gaining confidence and the game was getting better in Douglas last week.  I was definitely more confident this year, I knew the course better and where to miss.  Last year I struggled, missing in bad spots and they’re nearly automatically bodies around here.  And then this year definitely managed that better obviously and having Barry on the bag helped out as well.”

Murphy found himself sleeping on a four stroke lead before the final round and he did admit to a few nerves.  “Yeah there’s definitely nerves, it’s kind of natural enough but I kind of felt I managed well.   I did get off to a shaky start this morning, just one or two bad areas to start like hitting a ball into tree on the second, then a bad miss for par on five and missed a short putt on six.  But then I steadied it and got into it and the nerves were gone for the back nine.”

Jack has another busy week next week, on Monday he’s off to Milltown for the Schools Senior finals on Monday and next weekend he’ll tee it up in Cork for the Munster Stroke Play.  Murphy is also preparing for the leaving cert, and while he’s due to go to the University of Washington in August he has a number of tournaments in Ireland and Europe to look forward to.

Once again the BoyleSports sponsored scratch cup attracted a field of top class amateurs.  Among those there were Caolan Rafferty, David Kitt, Eoin Murphy and Kevin LeBlanc.  Despite the star studded field it was the Douglas teenager who mastered the course and the competition.

Lee Valley Captain Colm Coffey was the first to congratulate Murphy on his win, and he thanked all of the players for making it another great event in Lee Valley.  The green keeping team were also singled out for praise, considering the condition of the course just a week before the event many thought a postponement was inevitable.  The dry weather and a huge effort from the team meant that the course presented a fair test for everyone.

Coffey also thanked Peter Tuite from sponsors BoyleSports.  He also thanked Tournament Director Vince Drinan who has spearheaded the event for over a decade.  Drinan is a driving force and his enthusiasm and commitment is at the core of the success of the event.