Murdoch Turns Back Clock And Grabs Lead At Women’s Mid-Amateur & Mid-Master Championships
It's 'Turn-Back-The-Clock Murdoch' In The Lead At Nanaimo GC After Round One Of The B.C. Women’s Mid-Amateur & Mid-Master Championship - Image Credit Bryan Outram
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
NANAIMO -- Wine improves with age. Senior-aged golfers generally do not. Alison Murdoch knows this, so was especially delighted and a little surprised to find herself in the lead after Tuesday’s first round of the B.C. Women’s Mid-Amateur & Mid-Master Championship at Nanaimo Golf Club.
The 66-year-old Murdoch is giving away a few years to the rest of the field. That didn’t seem to matter Tuesday, however, when the longtime Victoria resident shot a six-over 78 on Nanaimo’s classic A.V. Macan-designed layout.
That gave her the lead in both competitions. The Mid-Amateur is open to players 25 and older. The Mid-Master category is for players 40 and over. Murdoch’s closest pursuer is Vancouver’s Phyllis Laschuk, who shot an 80 and is also competing in both competitions.
“I really held it together,” Murdoch said after her round. “I sunk one really long putt on No. 7. It was 50 or 60 feet for par. And I chipped in for birdie on 16. That was my only birdie of my round. I sunk some good putts to save things, whether it was for bogey or par. You know those eight-foot putts are so crucial.
“I figure I got as much out of that round as I could have. I am kind of a streaky putter. Sometimes I putt well and sometimes I putt mediocre. I don’t think I am ever a bad putter. But today I was a good putter and that really helped my round.”
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Murdoch is nearly 10 years removed from the highlight of her long golfing career. It was the late summer of 2007 when she went on a magical run and won the Canadian, Irish and British Senior Women’s Amateur titles.
Shortly after winning those titles in her late 50s, Murdoch talked about knowing that the window on her competitive golf career was rapidly closing. But she has kept playing and playing well.
image credit brad ziemer - Nanoose Bay's Shelly Stouffer Fired A First Round 82, Four Shots Off The Lead
“I am still sort of thinking about how long I might be able to do this,” Murdoch said. “I won’t be doing it when I am 90, but I am still doing it this year. Obviously the time is closer now, but I don’t want to look back and say, I should have kept on competing, I should have stayed in the race and run through to the absolute finish. They do say as you get a little bit older, your body starts to let you down and this is true. . .but I am still at it.”
Murdoch said she didn’t make the trek up Island expecting to win this week. Like most others, she had pegged Port Alberni’s Christina Proteau and Shelly Stouffer of Nanoose Bay as the favourites. But both players struggled.
Proteau, who won the Mid-Amateur last summer at Cowichan Golf & Country Club, had a decent round going until disaster struck on the par 5 14th hole, when her second shot went into a tree and did not come down. She made a triple-bogey and then double-bogeyed the par 5 16th hole en route to an 81 that left her tied for third with Kathryn McGarvey of North Vancouver.
Stouffer, who won last year’s Mid-Master Championship at Duncan Meadows fired an 82. “The last time I had a tournament here I was 92-93 so I am way ahead of that,” a frustrated Stouffer said with a laugh. “That was a few years ago, right after I got my amateur status back, and I swore I’d never play here again. But here I am.”
CHIP SHOTS: The 54-hole event continues with the second round on Wednesday and concludes Thursday. . .Port Alberni’s Jackie Little, the 2015 B.C. Senior Women’s champion, withdrew before Tuesday’s first round with a sore back.