Murphy hits the birdie trail
Mark Murphy was a happy man after his second round in Córdoba. Pic via http://instagram.com/markjmurphMark Murphy overcame a tough start, high winds and difficult pin positions to move into the top 30 in the Abierto OSDE del Centro on the PGA TOUR Latinoamérica in Argentina.
The Waterville man was in danger of missing the cut when he went out in 38 to soar to eight over par at historic Córdoba Golf Club.
But he dug deep on the back nine in Villa Allende, cruising home in 33 for a level par 71 that left him tied for 26th on five over par. Leaderboard
“Shot 71 in a hurricane today moving Nicely up the leader board every minute, time to go low tomorrow :) #still100%cutsmadein2013 #winning,” Murphy tweeted after jumping 51 places up the leaderboard in the $150,000 event.
Mexico’s Mauricio Azcué is the only player in red numbers after adding a level par 71 to his opening 70 to lead by two strokes from Chile’s Nicolás Geyger (67) Colombia’s Álvaro Arizabaleta (70) and Argentinian pair Sergio Acevedo (72) and Nelson Ledesma (74) on one-under.
Local superstar Angel Cabrera is tied for sixth, just three shots off the pace on two over after a second successive 72.
“I didn’t his the ball that well,” said the Masters runner up. “I found it hard to focus and hit a few bad shots.”
Refusing to blame the course or the tough pins, Cabrera added: “A few flags are on the limit but it’s the same for everyone. This wind gives the course more defence than any other because it’s against you on the longest holes and with you on the downhill holes, making it very difficult to stop the ball. It’s the worst wind.”
The second round scoring average was 76.186 (+5.18) compared to 75.294 on the opening day.
Murphy bogeyed the first and followed a birdie at the par-five second with bogeys at the third and the 200-yard fourth, which was the toughest holes on Friday with an average score of 3.58.
Another shot went at the ninth but he birdied the par-three 10th and the par-five 12th and 16th holes to clinch a third round tee-time alongside local amateur German Tagle and American Daniel Balin.