Record breaking round for Omagh’s Oscar

OSCAR Murphy was delighted and disappointed in equal measure following his second round at Donegal Golf Club during the Magee 1866 Scratch Cup.

That’s because he broke the course record at Murvagh with a sensational bogey free seven-under-par 66 at the testing links venue but even that stunning score wasn’t enough for victory after he missed out by just one stroke to Dungannon’s Dwayne Mallon who shot a final round 67 to seal the deal on the day.

And while losing by such a slim margin after playing so well stings a little, the Omagh man admits he’s pleased with how he managed his final round, particularly after bouncing back from a two-over-par first 18 holes.

“I couldn’t believe it!,” he exclaimed.

“Dwayne’s a good player and anyone else, I wouldn’t have put it past him shooting six-under and he had a putt on the last for the course record as well, so he got me by one.

“I’m happy for Dwayne at the same time and while I’m happy with the score and the course record, I’m more pleased with the way I handled it on the way round.

“When you get that far under-par, the heart rate gets up and you start doing silly things and it’s very easy to turn a seven-under into a two-under.

“My decision making, keeping myself calm, hydrated, keeping myself energised was all good. I took an extra few seconds each shot, deep breaths, it was just nice.”

As good as seven-under-par is around Murvagh, on another day Oscar could have gone even lower had a few more putts dropped after efforts on the 11th, 14th, 15th and 16th all stopped just shy of the hole.

“I was five-under through eight and I drove it to the front edge of the ninth green [a 349 metre par four] and I thought ‘this is to get to six-under for the front nine’. I played a good chip but it didn’t get up the slope and came back down, so it was a good two putt [for par] in the end.

“So, I could have been six-under through nine and after that it was more about going bogey free rather than going really low, which I still did.

“I left a putt [for birdie] on 16 about a millimetre short, had another tap-in par on 17 but 18 was probably the first time I felt the heart rate going but I played [the approach shot] nice and I had about 18 feet for birdie.

“I took my time over it and about three feet out it was in the middle of the putt, a wee fist pump and boom, birdie for seven-under, so I was buzzing.”

Having taken a bit of a break from golf over the last month, Oscar was delighted with his return to form and he will hope to continue that level of play in a couple of weeks when he competes in the North of Ireland Amateur Championship at Portstewart.