New balls please! Andy Murray reflects on “brilliant” Pro-Am debut

It’s not common for seven handicappers to draw huge crowds.

Certainly not at Wentworth and certainly not during the BMW PGA Championship.

But Andy Murray is not your typical seven handicapper.

By the time the two-time Wimbledon champion arrived on the 18th tee this morning – the first hole of his much-anticipated appearance in today’s celebrity pro-am – large crowds had already gathered along the rope line flanking the hole’s right hand side.

Wearing a green polo over the top of a white base layer – the colours, coincidentally or otherwise, of his beloved Hibernian FC – a relaxed-looking Murray exchanged small talk with his amateur playing partners, cricketer Jimmy Anderson and Strictly Come Dancing judge Anton Du Beke.

Perhaps Du Beke partnering Murray’s mother Judy during her appearance on the BBC show in 2014 helped break the ice…

After Robert MacIntyre, the professional in the group, got proceedings under way at 8am, it was Murray’s turn to hit. The first test of the Scot’s mettle, metal hip and ability to withstand pressure on the course that he dealt with so effortlessly on the court.

A low runner, that found the bunker up the left, received warm applause on an otherwise cool morning. After laying up short of the burn in front of the green with his second, Murray displayed impressive short game skills. A pitch from 80 yards landed pin high and zipped back, leaving him around 12 feet for birdie. Alas, his putt came up inches short but a tap-in for par and he was off and running.

Huge galleries cheered and begged him for autographs and selfies for the remaining 17 holes and, though he and his team didn’t trouble the leaderboard, the former world No.1 was beaming as he walked off the course.

“It was a brilliant experience for me,” said Murray, who had his fellow single-figure handicap dad Will carrying a fresh new bag of Callaway clubs.

“I was pretty nervous. I couldn’t really feel my arms and legs. I didn’t really hit any balls on the range beforehand. I was feeling it. But it got better as the round went on.

“I enjoyed scoring and hitting good shots and stuff. I’m not bothered whether I win or lose in an event like this, but I still want to try to do as well as I can and I still enjoy competing.

“Obviously, it’s never going to replace what you had on the tennis court, but being out there with your friends and competing with them and against yourself and stuff is fun.”

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Asked how the experience compared to walking out at Wimbledon, Murray added: “It’s a different sort of nerves, because you are comfortable in the sort of tennis environment. I’m not thinking I’m going to walk out on the tennis court and forget how to hit the ball.

“Whereas here, there’s people standing five metres away from where I’m driving, and I’m like, I’m useless at this game. You just want to try and keep the ball in play and don’t mess up too much.”

Useless? Bob MacIntyre didn’t see it that way.

“For someone that’s not really played that much, I thought he was good,” said the Oban man. “I was very impressed with his game. He’ll be scratch in no time.”

That is Murray’s ultimate goal, although he expects it will take him a “couple of years”.

“I’m obviously getting to practise a lot more than the average person,” he added. “I obviously played a bit when I was younger, and if I can get the right sort of lessons and practise the right things, then yeah, I’ve got a chance of doing that.

“The lessons have made a huge difference. That’s been the most important thing for me. I used to go down to the range and hit lots of balls, and I could hit a few good ones.

“But if you have a fundamental flaw in your swing or what you’re doing, it doesn’t matter how many balls you hit on the range. So, getting lessons and practising those things is helping.”

Back to MacIntyre. Whilst he and Murray are at opposite ends of their careers, there are compelling parallels between them.

Both, for example, are the leading Scottish players in their respective sports, both have enjoyed considerable success under the burden of huge expectations, and both come from small communities: Oban for MacIntyre and Dunblane for Murray.

Understandably, then, MacIntyre sees Murray as something of a role model.

“If I achieve half of what he achieved in his sport, then I’ll have overachieved,” said the world No.16, who estimates that Murray averaged between 260 and 280 yards off the tee.

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“The guy is a sporting idol of many, many Scots. I was at dinner the other night with Calum Hill. Calum doesn’t know much about other sports apart from golf. But Andy Murray is his sporting idol.

“When a Scottish person does so well, the whole of Scotland get behind them. I’m no different. When he was winning Wimbledon, I watched every shot. I’d love to have half the career that he had in my sport. But there is so much work that goes into it.

“Going forward, I’ll be trying to pick his brains because our sports are probably as close as we can get it. Obviously, the mechanics are completely different. But we are individual. We’ve got our own teams. It’s as close as we are going to get to the game of golf.”

For Murray, the future looks somewhat different. Competing at the top-level is in his rearview mirror. But as for the road ahead, more pro-am appearances perhaps? Maybe even an Alfred Dunhill Links debut next month?

“I’m happy playing in front of nobody, to be honest,” he laughed. “But yeah, look, I really enjoy playing. I’ve obviously got a lot of free time just now, so I’m playing a few times a week, having lessons, and just enjoying having something to focus my attention on.”

One thing he won’t be doing is following his mother onto the dance floor.

“That’s highly unlikely.”

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor