Murphy pips murdock for club championship

 
Eoin Murphy won the Club Championship for the third time in five years on Saturday after the event was reduced to 18 holes as thunder and lightning forced the cancellation of the second round.
Murphy won on countback from Conal Murdock after both had shot level par rounds of 72 with defending champion Caolan Rafferty a shot further back.
Rafferty had got off to a great start with a birdie at the first but then double bogeyed the second and bogeyed the sixth to find himself two over after six holes. However, three successive birdies from the ninth got him back under par but two more bogeys at the 12th and 14th saw him sign for a one-over par 73.
Murdock, who had finished second in the Golfer of the Year despite missing the final counting event, brought that form into the Club Championship and, after a bogey on the first, he produced birdies at the third, sixth, seventh and eighth to turn in three under par. He was unable to find any more birdies on the home stretch and bogeys at the 11th  and 12th brought him back to level par.
Murphy, who was playing alongside Rafferty, also struggled on the second and walked off with a bogey as the rain came down but he recovered with birdies at the fourth, fifth and eighth to turn in two under par. He was still two under with six holes to go after a birdie at 12 balanced out a bogey at 10. However, three successive bogeys from the 14th saw him drop back to one over.
The 18th hole was recently renamed Harrington’s Challenge because of the impact it had on the career of three-times major winner Padraig Harrington and once again it proved to be the decisive hole in deciding the outcome of an event.
Playing in the first group, Murphy birdied the hole to come home in level par and leave Murdock, who was in the third group, needing just a four to post the best first round score, but he bogeyed it to also finish on level par.
At that stage, the players had only completed the first round of the 36 hole competition and they were one third of the way through the second round when thunder and lightning in the area saw all players taken off the course and the second round cancelled.  
That resulted in the first round determining the outcome and Murphy took the title on countback with his back nine of 38 bettering Murdock’s by one shot. 
​Saturday, September 13 – Club Championship Singles Stroke – Sponsored by Leslie Walker – Overall: Eoin Murphy 72/38, Conall Murdock 72/39, Caolan Rafferty 73.