Trevor Murphy takes a commanding lead at the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational
Trevor Murphy’s bogey-free eight-under par 63 earned the American a commanding three-stroke lead at the rain-delayed Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational at The OSU Golf Club on Thursday.
Murphy, who turned professional in 2008, is looking for his maiden win on the Web.com Tour and a chip-in birdie on his final hole, the ninth, took him three ahead of James Sacheck.
It was overall an entertaining show of the game by Murphy, as he flew the ball all across the course. At times, he played brilliantly well and sometimes he seemed to lose his grip over the game.
He was impressive in putting from long distances. In the meantime, he also missed short putts. Each time he played his tee shot, it seemed as if he could have gone for a bogey.
In total, he only hit five of 14 fairways on the course. However, he was amazing on the greens as he used only 23 putts to complete his round. As a result, he managed to remain flawless as far as his scorecard
is was
concerned.
"It was just a strange day. I've shot even or over-par and hit it better than I did today," Murphy said.
"I missed it in the right spots off the tee where I could hit a shot around some trees and get it up on the green and make a putt. My wedges were great. When I did hit the fairway I hit it pretty close. And putting, I made so many putts".
"It was crazy," he said. "If you had put a ball down on every hole where I hit my tee shot and asked me what score I thought I could make from there, I would have hoped to make par or bogey on a bunch of them".
He now has a great chance of earning a share of the second biggest purse on the Web.com Tour – winning share of
$144,000 out of $800,000.
The only need is to remain calm and focused in the remaining rounds. He must try to increase the lead in the second round in order to put some extra pressure on his opponents.
Tags: