John Murphy is sponsored by Arachas, Ireland’s largest nationwide insurance broker. Picture: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

KINSALE’S John Murphy dreams of becoming an overnight sensation but he’s prepared for the long road ahead as he makes his second PGA Tour appearance in this week’s AT&T Byron Nelson in Dallas.

The former Walker Cup star (23) made an impressive start to his pro career last year, finishing a ninth in the Alfred Dunhill Links at St Andrews.

A big week there would have catapulted him straight onto the DP World Tour but even as he makes his second PGA Tour appearance in the space of four months as a reward for winning the 2020 Byron Nelson Award at the University of Louisville, he’s ready to follow in the footsteps of fellow Munster man Séamus Power, and wait for his time to come.

“Séamus has showed as much persistence as any Irish golfer ever that I can remember in terms of how long he had to wait for his time,” said Murphy, who is sharing a house with Power and their caddies this week.

“What was it, three or four years ago, and he was on the Korn Ferry Tour and it's incredible to see where he is now.

"It's not an easy thing to do, to break that top 50 in the world, and it doesn't look like he's stopping any time soon.

"It is motivating to see. I'm staying with Seamus this week and looking forward to kind of picking his brain a bit, seeing how he goes about his job in preparation, it's obviously great to learn from some of the best in the world so yeah, I'm looking forward to it.”

Murphy is grateful that sponsorship from insurance broker Arachas has taken the pressure off him in financially and while he knows he has the game to burst through and grab his card in any given week, he’s ready for all scenarios.

“Golf can be a pretty dark place if you let it get the better of you, but I feel we have done a pretty good job of not letting ourselves get bogged down by anything yet,” he said.

“Things went pretty well when I turned professional and I had a few good finishes on the Challenge Tour. But I know from playing amateur golf at a high level how frustrated and infuriated you can get.

“It can certainly be a very lonely place if things are not going well. But I use certain coping mechanisms to deal with that and I’m looking forward to the challenge when it does arise because you don’t go through your whole career without playing poorly or having a few blips along the way.

“I read recently that the average age when you actually get your first tour card is 28 years old, so there's a lot of cases where a lot of people are waiting it out.

"Seamus is a prime example, he didn't get his first PGA Tour card until he was in his 30s and that's certainly more inspiration for me. I'm young, I'm 23 and as much as I don't want to sit back and be content with where I am, I'm very comfortable with the fact that I have time to figure things out and figure out what works best for me.”

Ranked 553rd in the world, Murphy hasn’t played since the Challenge Tour’s Limpopo Championship six weeks ago but he hasn’t set any results based goals this week.

:It is very easy to set yourself goals in terms of performance but there have been weeks when I’ve kind of looked back at the end of the week and looked at myself and said, ‘Did I do everything I possibly could to put myself in the best possible position come Thursday?’ and there have been plenty weeks where the answer has been ‘no’ so I am just trying to learn, just trying to figure out what works best for me each week and this week is another great opportunity to do that.

“I suppose it is all going to come down to if I can look back at myself on Sunday evening and say yeah, I did everything I possibly could to put myself in the best position to compete at this event then I suppose I will just have to take the result as it comes because there is not much more you can do.

“That’s all I’m looking at, just the next couple of days, getting ready, preparing, getting the distances dialled in, getting to know the course as much as possible and where that leaves me then is all I can ask for.

“The last tournament I played in was South Africa, close to six weeks ago. I got back and saw my coach for a few weeks, worked through a few things with him. I suppose it is same thing you do in the off season, just try to sharpen things up.

“Every area of my game has something that could be worked on so certainly try to dial that in, try to sharpen things up as much as possible and then last week I came out to the States. I went to Louisville, where the Kentucky Derby was on, and saw a couple of people there and saw a few people and golfed and practiced for a few days. Certainly great to have the opportunity to go back there, that place helped me a lot in terms of my progress as a golfer. So it was great to go back and get a week of preparation in for the next PGA Tour event.”

He believes his game has improved since he left Louisville and he’s looking forward to a busy season, mainly competing on the Challenge Tour.

“Naturally once you turn professional you are going to get better, in terms of you are playing golf every day. You are going to the range every day. You are going to naturally get sharper the more golf you play. I am getting ready for a season where I am going to play more competitive golf than I ever have before.

“It is going to be busy and I am looking forward to that and looking forward to learning more about myself and looking forward to competing on a regular basis because that is really how you learn the most about your game and how you learn to get better as a player.

“I am looking forward to this busy stretch. I am playing here and then going back to Europe for what will be a jam-packed summer. I think in terms of, have I got better since I left Louisville? Yes, I think I have. Thankfully it is a case with me where I’ve progressed a little bit every year.

“I have looked back on every year and felt like I have got that little bit better every year and I think I am going to try to just keep doing that and taking care of business. Show up every day and try to take care of business on that given day and I think that will leave me in a pretty good place if I can continue to do that.”

He saw TPC Craig Ranch last year and having played the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, he knows what he has to do.

"One thing that I did kind of take from last year was the distance side of things might have been blown a little out of proportion and a lot of the really good players that I played with seemed to be just very clean, very tidy with their games, their game seemed to be really sharp,” he said.

"So that's one learning that I took, that if I don't know I need to be chasing distance, I think the best in the world are just very tidy, very professional and don't seem to make too many mistakes.

"So I'm just in the process now of trying to clean everything up and eliminate those mistakes as much as possible.”

Dealing with nerves is part and parcel of the process but he learned a great deal from the Walker Cup at Seminole. where Great Britain and Ireland came close to pulling off a surprise win.

"I got a memory from my phone earlier, this day last year myself and Mark Power played in the Walker Cup together and that certainly was a big learning curve for me, the whole night before, the whole anticipation and build-up, you've got the nerves and getting a bit of adrenaline going.

"I remember hitting that first tee shot and walking down the first, and just having this release, knowing this is the kind of thing you dream of.

"I think that put me in a lot of comfort out on the course, realising this is where I want to be, I don't want to be a ball of nerves for this, this is the fun part. The preparation and stuff might not be the fun part but when you're playing and competing, that's what is fun for me.

"I was pleasantly surprised how comfortable I was under those kinds of situations I put myself in last year and I'm looking forward to trying to put myself in some more.

"So there has been a lot that has happened since and it feels like a long time ago, but at the same time it feels like yesterday I was walking down that first fairway with Mark and yeah, I won't be forgetting that in a hurry.”

Avoiding doing too much is a key goal, having spoken to Shane Lowry about that aspect of the game,

"Right now I'm kind of at the stage where I'm going to show up every day and do the most I can to feel like I'm getting better,” he said. “Some days that might be sitting there and taking a break, watching a movie, that's one thing I've learned from the likes of Shane.

"The year after he won the British Open, he didn't touch a golf club for maybe a month, maybe more, that winter.

"So sometimes you have to listen to yourself, listen to what works best for you and I'm still at the stage where I'm trying to figure some of that out but I feel like last year was a huge learning curve and I figured out a lot about myself and that the best way is to grind, essentially. I'm looking forward to learning more.”

As for the temptations of the LIV Golf Invitational Series, he has no plans to jump ship.

John Murphy hits his tee shot on the 17th hole during Foursomes at the 2021 Walker Cup at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla. on Saturday, May 8, 2021. (Chris Keane/USGA)

“I am very content with where I am. My manager Emma O’Driscoll at JMC Sport has been phenomenal in getting me the invites that I have. I’ve had the opportunity now to play across three different tours since I turned professional. And it’s not even something that I would consider. I don’t even know where things will go in terms of how that tour will work out.

“Obviously the money that you’re playing for on the PGA Tour is phenomenal. $9.1 million was it? But at the same time, I’m not trying to think about the money side of things. Thankfully I’ve got some great sponsors and some great Irish sponsors like Arachas have been able to help me out in my first year as a professional.

“So having that financial backing and that moral support is huge. I am not thinking about the money right now. I am thinking more about points. Thankfully I don’t have to make a good pay cheque this week to move into next week because I know there are a lot of people in that position.

“In professional golf, you can really get stuck in the mud sometimes so thankfully I am very comfortable with where I am right now and all I have to do is try to get better and try and work my way up as much as I can and wherever that leaves me, we will just have to reassess at the end of the year.

“Obviously the Challenge Tour has been great in terms of giving me invites during my first year as a professional and I am just going to try and work my way up from there.”

John Murphy is sponsored by Arachas, Ireland’s largest nationwide insurance broker providing innovative car, home, and business insurance products. Arachas employs some 500 people in Ireland and is part of the Ardonagh Group, a global insurance broker. Visit www.arachas.ie for more information.