Murray takes second at Dunhill

SCOTLAND’S George Murray had to settle for an impressive second place at the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek in South Africa yesterday.

Garth Mulroy, a 33-year-old South African, came to the par-five last with a two-stroke lead and made no mistake, capturing his first European Tour title when a closing par gave him a two-shot victory over Murray with a 19-under-par total.

Two in front overnight, Mulroy, from Durban, stood on the 14th tee three clear but, as he took bogey there, Murray converted a 20-foot eagle chance at the long 15th. Suddenly they were on level terms, but while Murray parred the final three Mulroy two-putted the 15th after finding the green in two and then holed an outrageous putt of around 60 feet for another birdie at the next.

“I knew halfway down that slope it had a chance,” he said. “I just tried to play smart golf and hit it in the right spots.”

For Murray, it was his best-Tour finish, seven weeks after he came third in the Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews, where he outscored world No 1 playing partner Luke Donald in the final round. This time a five-under-par 67, one better than Mulroy, took him four clear of four players in third place – compatriot Peter Whiteford, South Africans George Coetzee and Jaco van Zyl and also Chilean Felipe Aguilar.

Murray was down in 183rd spot on the Tour money list entering October and facing the danger of a sixth trip to the qualifying school. Now the 28-year-old from Anstruther is inside the top 80.