Murphy is a Latin lover

Mark Murphy during the second round of the Lyoness Open in Austia last July. Picture: golfsupport.nl / www.newsfile.ieWaterville’s Mark Murphy will be brushing up on his Spanish this year after winning his card for the PGA TOUR Latinoamérica circuit at the Q-School in Sebring, Florida.

The Big Break Ireland winner completed a final round 68 in the weather-delayed event at Sun N’Lake Golf Club’s Deer Run course to finish tied for third on seven under par as 20 players earned cards. Scores

“I have a card on both sides of the Atlantic now not the ones I’m looking for but a step in the right direction,” said Murphy, who came through the Alps Tour Q-School last year.

“Not bad after being three over for my first nine holes on day one. Have some work to do but very pleased. South America get ready.”

Murphy shot round of 72, 71, 70 and 68 to finish five shots behind American Jhared Hack (69), who won the 72-hole event by four shots from compatriot Mark Baker on 11 under.

“It was nice to finish up strong this morning,” Hack said. “When it takes an extra day to finish you can start overthinking things but I had a big enough cushion but winning feels nice.”

Players from nine countries earned cards with 12 Americans joined by an Irishman and players from Argentina, Wales, Sweden, Colombia, Mexico, Australia and Canada.

The top five on the PGA TOUR Latinoamérica money list - “Los Cinco” - will earn a spot on the 2014 Web.com Tour while players ranked from sixth to 10th will be exempt into the final stage of the Web.com Tour’s 2014 Qualifying Tournament.

The schedule (http://www.pgatourla.com/tournaments?lg=en) features 15 tournaments worth $150,000 each with stops on Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Brasil, Peru and Chile.