It is 13 years since I first read about
Mark Murphy’s golfing exploits in a newspaper. Interestingly, it was not an Irish
publication; the improbable source of an
extensive piece on him was the San
Francisco Chronicle.
The truth is that self-promotion comes
easily to this engaging former disc jockey,
who gloried in the showbiz name of DJ
Muppet. So, we shouldn’t be surprised
at the publicity generated by his win in
Golf Channel’s “Big Break,” in which the
rewards include a place for Murphy in
the Irish Open at Royal Portrush in June.
Indeed, it has been suggested that more is
known about the gregarious Kerryman in
the US than in his native land, due to the
fact that Golf Channel viewing in the Emerald Isle is limited to tournament replays.
Murphy’s San Francisco episode had to
do with the City Amateur, to which he was
invited by local attorney Andrew Zacks,
who met the then 19-year-old when he
was working as a caddie at his native
Waterville.
The Chronicle reported: “Zacks had
mentioned that he knew Mike (Fluff)
Cowan and Tiger Woods. Murphy thought
it was just another empty boast by an
American on holiday, until signed photos
of the two arrived by mail a few weeks
later. When Cowan and Woods visited
Ireland prior to the British Open, Murphy
caddied for both.” That was Woods’ first
Irish visit, in July 1998, in the company of
Mark O’Meara, among others.
The report went on to quote Zacks as
saying that since arriving in San Francisco
in January 1999, “young Mark took some
money off the boys at McLaren Park,” and
had other golf outings at Spyglass Hill,
Pasatiempo and the Fort Ord Bayonet
Course. And his failure to extend a good
run in the month-long city event placed
him in the celebrated company of Tom
Watson and Johnny Miller.
