A Tenacious Tandem, Carlson and Murphy Win MGA Senior Four-Ball to Earn Seventh Victory Together

September 27, 2017 | 4 min.


By Nick Hunter
nick@mngolf.org


  MINNETRISTA, Minn. – Friends and golf partners for the better part of the last four decades, Leif Carlson and Greg Murphy have teamed up to win six state team championships together since 1992.

Following a bogey-free round of 68 to open the 44th Minnesota Golf Association Senior Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Burl Oaks Golf Club Tuesday, the tandem replicated their opening-round score Wednesday to claim their seventh victory together with a one-stroke victory at 8-under par 136.

But Murphy's season was put in question because of a serious health scare over the past month, sidelining Murphy from a number of events as he was unable to pick up a golf club for nearly four weeks.

“I had a two and a half-foot long blood clot in my right leg and my doctor said that there weren’t a lot of people that would survive something like that,” Murphy said Wednesday. “I feel pretty lucky.

“This means everything to me—I’m just glad that I was here. I told my doctor that I don’t care about the [MGA Senior Amateur Championship] because I’m the only one impacted by that, but don’t tell me I can’t play with my partner [at the Senior Four-Ball] because I’m in it for him,” Murphy said Wednesday.

Carlson and Murphy trailed John Anderson and Bill Tadewald by one shot entering Wednesday’s final round, but aimed at a simple game plan for the final 18 holes.

“We knew we needed to hit fairways and greens and trying to have two putts at each hole as often as possible,” Carlson said.

The two managed to card consecutive pars over the first four holes Wednesday before Carlson started the scoring by rolling in a short birdie at the par-5 fifth to move the pair to 5-under for the tournament.

Thanks to back-to-back birdies by Murphy at the eighth and ninth holes, the two would head to the final nine at 7-under. A steady start to the back resulted in five consecutive pars before Carlson sank a 25-footer for birdie at the 15th before Murphy’s approach at the 16th stopped eight feet from the cup and he would convert birdie to get his team to 9-under.

Playing the first 34 holes of the championship without recording a bogey on the scorecard, Carlson and Murphy were unable to save par at the 17th, but would only need par on the final hole to earn a one-shot victory at 8-under par 136.

“The chaser is better than being chased,” Murphy said after his team’s victory Wednesday. “I would say that neither one of us had our A-game. It was try to keep the ball in play, get it on the green and try to make some putts—that was it. My driver was so inconsistent today and I think it was because I was struggling to keep my weight off my right side—I’m kind of hanging back. I was trying my best to hang in there, hit some good shots and make some putts.

“I’m glad to have him here and that he’s able to play after what he’s gone through the last month,” Carlson said of his longtime playing partner. “I wanted to play well for him because he was struggling and missed a number of tournaments that he would’ve liked to have played in.”

The two have now claimed their second MGA Senior Amateur Four-Ball title in three years after winning the 2015 championship at St. Cloud Country Club. They earned victories at the 1992 and 2003 Minnesota Public Golf Association Four-Ball Championships, as well as three victories at the MPGA Combination Championship.

Asked why the pair has enjoyed success so frequently on the golf course together, Murphy said, “Because we’ve been together for 40 years! We play together almost every weekend. We just have fun together.”

“Our game’s complement each other and we think fairly similarly on how to approach certain shots and strategy at times,” Carlson said.

While the two have seven victories as a team, Carlson claimed two victories at the MGA Amateur Four-Ball with partner Mark Boettcher in 1994 and 1997. Individually, Carlson won the 2008 MGA Senior Amateur at Woodhill Country Club as well as two Twin Cities Senior Championships in 2012 and 2017.

Aside from his wins partnered with Carlson, Murphy claimed five MPGA Four-Ball Championship victories with Terry Moores (1991, 1994-95, 1999, 2002). Prior to his win Wednesday, Murphy’s most recent victory came in 2015 when he defeated J.T. Johnson in a playoff to win the MPGA Senior Public Links Championship at Goodrich Golf Course.

A late bogey Wednesday proved fatal for the team of Reed Kolquist and John Spreiter who would post a final-round 69 to finish in a tie for second place at 137 with the team of Anderson and Tadewald, the twosome of Carl Horsch and Mark Knutson, as well as Mike Cleland and Steve Whittaker.

 

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