It’s been an amazing few weeks of golf for Scottish tennis legend Andy Murray.
The two-time Wimbledon champion has fallen in love with golf since hanging up his racquet and he’s impressed observers with the speed with which his handicap has dropped from 20 to single figures inside a year.
In late August he ventured to St Andrews and promptly drained a sensational eagle putt from the Valley of Sin on the par-4 18th hole.
But he wasn’t even halfway done. In mid-September he made another 18th hole eagle, this time on the par-5 closer at Wentworth in the BMW PGA Championship.
And just last week he played in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship where he partnered Eddie Pepperell to a top 20 finish in the team competition.
After his round at Wentworth he chatted to Golf365 about his love of golf and his ambitions to compete in Open Regional Qualifying.
Andy Murray on making the transition from tennis to golf
“I like that in golf you have time in-between shots to reflect and calm down. In tennis, your heart rate can get extremely high, you play a long point, an important point, and the tension builds and builds.
“For me, the hard part about golf is not in-between shots, it’s when you’re standing over the ball, making sure not too many thoughts creep into your head and actually just getting the club moving properly. That’s the hard part.”
On making game plans as a golfer
“I keep being told about plotting my way around a course. The professionals can do that and it’s great to watch them do it in the pro-am.
“I think it can help amateur golfers to a certain extent, but the reality is that we don’t always hit the ball where we intend to! I can say, I want to hit it on the left side of the fairway but then it ends up 20 yards in the right rough. The game plan doesn’t really help, then!”
On playing with Gareth Bale
“I’ve played with him a few times socially. He’s a member at Wentworth and we message each other on a group chat with another couple of guys. He’s been playing for a very long time and I think he played a lot when he was playing football as well. He’s a very good golfer. I enjoy playing with him.”
On his Open Regional Qualifying ambitions
“I don’t have ambitions of playing in the Open itself. But I want to play I competitions and test myself because I enjoy that. It’s the competitor in me and I wonder what it would be like to play in Regional Qualifying.
“A couple of my friends have done it and it’s something to aim for in order to get better. I know that I wouldn’t have any chance of actually qualifying for the Open. The difference between scratch golfers and professionals on tour – it’s a massive gap. That’s something else you realise playing in the pro-am.
“There’s still a long way to go even though I play three or four times a week. I won’t make Regional Qualifying next year but maybe in a couple of years time I’ll be at a level where I wouldn’t totally disgrace myself. You never know.”
On the difference between a tennis crowd and a golf crowd
“Well, the crowd aren’t in danger when I’m playing tennis, for one thing! In tennis there were times when the crowd became a norm and others when I used it to my advantage.
“It gave me positive energy, an adrenaline rush. In golf I’m more aware that there are people watching because you might do something embarrassing, to be honest. I’m more fearful of golf crowds than tennis ones but that’s because of what I might do wrong!”
On missing tennis
“I don’t really miss it. I drove past Wimbledon a few times during the championship and thought it would be nice to still be playing, but that was it.
“Not before and not since. It’s the same with coaching. There were bits of it that I liked, but right now I don’t want to be on the road. I just don’t want to do it.”
On making an eagle-2 via a long putt from the Valley of Sin
“It was crazy. I’ve never holed a putt like that in my life and I might never do it again. It was like 100 feet. I have seen the famous putt holed from there by Costantino Rocca in the 1995 Open. Mine was longer!
“My reaction, when I reflect on it, was a bit embarrassing, I was jumping around. I’ve never seen anyone do that on a golf course, unless they were winning a major or something.
“I guess, tennis players are naturally more fired up when they’re competing and golfers have to be more focussed.”
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