Senior turned in 2-under performance at NCAA’s
Will Murphy has acquired a skill that is very important to achieve success in golf: a short memory.
Just a few months ago at the NCAA men’s golf championship, the then-junior was in a solid position to lead the Gamecocks to qualify for the match play portion of the championship.
Murphy played the best of any Gamecock over the course of three rounds, including the third round where he was four-under for the day with two holes remaining.
A chance at South Carolina finishing in the top eight for a match play spot was in sight, but those final two holes slipped away from him. He bogeyed and double-bogeyed the eighth and ninth holes respectively to finish at one-under for the day. The missteps put South Carolina in ninth place for the tournament at six-over par, narrowly missing the finals by one stroke.
For most golfers, shooting two-under for three rounds of an NCAA Championship is remarkable. Yet, Murphy knew a chance at his team’s goal of a championship was at his grasp and even though he performed the best of any South Carolina player, missing out on the opportunity stung.
“When you get yourself in that position, it’s tough after what happened to see the positives,” he said. “It left a sour taste in my mouth and our team’s mouth.”
Teammates like fellow senior Caleb Sturgeon did not really know what to say to console him, figuring Murphy was tough enough to be able to handle it on his own.
“There wasn’t anything to say,” Sturgeon said. “It’s just one of those hard feelings that comes with golf. You just got to look past it and move on, which he’s done just fine this summer.”
Head coach Bill McDonald and his staff made sure that each player knew it wasn’t any one player’s fault.
“We made sure to let them know we’re a team and we do everything as team,” assistant coach Alex Hamilton said. “Just because you may think you missed a put that cost us, it’s not you. We all played 54 holes and had plenty of chances the entire tournament.”
Murphy’s short memory kicked in quickly. He knew he couldn’t dwell on those two holes.
He spent a lot of time on his putting and his improvement in that area helped him win several amateur tournaments. He won the very next tournament he played in after NCAA’s, winning in a playoff at the Sunnehanna Amateur Tournament For Champions, one of the biggest amateur events in the country.
Hamilton said Murphy’s consistency has improved more than anything coming into this season and that the coaching staff is looking at the senior to step into a leadership role.
Murphy helped move along sophomore Ben Dietrich’s game last year when Dietrich was a freshman, aiding with his scoring game.
“When I was a freshman, I looked up to the seniors too,” Murphy said. “We’re all a big family so I help them out any way they want. It’s usually just through practicing and showing them how I do things when I practice.”
Murphy, along with Sturgeon and junior Matt NeSmith competed in the USGA U.S. Amateur Championship this past week. It was the last tournament for each player before the Gamecock golf season starts with The Carmel Cup in Pebble Beach, Calif. that runs August 29 through 31.
After coming close to the final stage last season at NCAA’s, the Gamecocks’ one goal is to win a national championship. Murphy said an NCAA title has always been the goal every year, but the team hasn’t always believed they could accomplish it. With a ninth place finish and showing they can hang with the top teams, the Gamecocks are starting to believe their dream can be a reality.
Since all of its core players are returning in Murphy, Sturgeon, NeSmith, Dietrich and junior Will Starke, South Carolina expects another championship appearance.
For this time around, Murphy seems to have overcome the pain of this past May pretty quickly and replaced it with the confidence to be a champion. That attitude may have rubbed off on his teammates, too.
“I think he’s got a good head on his shoulders,” Sturgeon said. “I think NCAA’s hurt us all at the time, but looking back on it, we’ve all grown from it. It might have made us stronger.”