Advertisement

Murdaca close to Masters dream

Oct 26, 2014
Murdaca in heatwave conditions at Grange earlier this year

Murdaca in heatwave conditions at Grange earlier this year

Adelaide amateur golfer Anthony Murdaca has one hand firmly on an invitation to the US Masters at Augusta.

The 19-year-old dual Australian junior champion will take an eight-shot lead into the final day of the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship at Royal Melbourne Golf Club.

Murdaca, who plays out of Grange Golf Club, carded a five-under-par 67 in Saturday’s third round which almost included a miraculous double eagle at the par-5 17th.

He is 12 under the card after shooting three rounds in the 60s around Royal Melbourne’s world famous composite layout.

The winner of the tournament gains automatic entry into the Masters next April.

Luck might be with the genial South Australian this week. He was the ninth of 10 Australians to qualify for the event and is playing in the tournament for the first time.

He showed no sign of nerves in a flawless third round, playing the front nine in peerless fashion to turn in three-under 35.

Murdaca missed only one fairway in the third round.

The highlight of the round was the eagle at the 520m par-5 17th after he almost holed his approach shot, a four iron from 221 metres. The ball narrowly missed dropping in the left side of the cup before finishing within tap-in distance for eagle.

“I just picked my target in the background there and hit the shape I wanted to and the ball came off nicely. It had a little bit of fade on it and landed short and just worked out pretty well for me,” he said.

The next best Australian is first-round leader Todd Sinnott (74) at four under – one clear of Geoff Drakeford (69).

Murdaca said he was not even thinking about Augusta until after the final round.

But he admitted it had been a childhood dream to play at the famous Masters tournament especially after watching his friend from WA, Oliver Goss, finish leading amateur at Augusta earlier this year.

“My game is quite solid and I have been practising with my coach (Gareth Jones) very hard for the last few months to get here,” he said.

Jones has been his coach for five years and Murdaca has the added bonus of having him caddy for him this week.

“He keeps me calm. If I hit a bad shot, we talk about something else and just move on. We don’t dwell on it.”

Murdaca said he would definitely have his coach on the bag if he made it to Augusta.

“I think he would be pretty keen,” he added.

 

 

Local News Matters
Advertisement
Copyright © 2024 InDaily.
All rights reserved.