Murphy qualifies for Mass Amateur and Junior Amateur golf tournaments
By Cary Shuman
After three consecutive years of earning a berth on the All-Northeastern Conference golf team for Winthrop High School, Ryan Murphy is scaling new heights in the sport.
Already one of the top junior golfers in the state, Murphy, 16, accomplished an impressive double, qualifying for both the Mass Amateur, which is being played this week at the Winchester Country Club and the Mass. Junior Amateur, which will be held Aug 4-7 at Wyantenuck Country Club in Great Barrington. He finished third out of a field of more than 100 golfers in the Mass Amateur qualifier and was fifth out of a field of more than 40 golfers in the Mass Junior Am qualifier.
Murphy’s surge into the top tier of junior golfers coincides with his enrollment at the IMG Golf Academy a world-renowned prep school and sports training complex in Florida. Several current professionals began their path to the PGA Tour at IMG.
Murphy’s strengths are the ability to drive the ball more than 300 yards and a superior putting game. He is on the radar of college golf programs.
An early start on the links
Murphy said he was introduced to the sport “at about 5-6 years old” by his father, Joe Murphy, a former Division 1 college baseball star at the University of Rhode Island, and his grandfather, former Winthrop Selectman and prominent attorney Robert Noonan Sr. Ryan is the son of Jennifer Noonan Murphy and part of the long line in the Noonan and Tallent families’ Winthrop-originated athletic success.
Ryan began playing competitively at the age of 12 and made a sterling debut for Winthrop High School as an eighth grader earning the No. 2 position on the varsity. He moved up to No. 1 quickly for Coach Jack Wallace’s Vikings.
He credits his older brother, Connor Murphy, for his dedication to the game and his steady ascension up the golf ladder, a path that took the then-14-year-old rising star to the semifinal of the Winthrop Golf Club Championships where he fell to two-time champion Thomas DiGregorio.
“I would not be half the golfer I am without Connor,” said Ryan. “Connor played for Winthrop High and then went to IMG, and he’s now a senior at Saint Lawrence University where he will be the captain of the golf team. I’m really proud of him. I never really had a golf coach, but he’s always been in that role for me. He pretty much built my golf swing.”
Ryan also takes pride in the achievements of his brothers, Will Murphy (“He was very good in football for Winthrop High,” says Ryan) and Brendan Murphy, currently a 12-year-old Winthrop Little League All-Star with an exceedingly bright future in baseball.
Onward and upward
Ryan says his favorite pro golfer is Justin Thomas, who starred collegiately at the University of Alabama.
Like the long-hitting Thomas, Ryan aspires to earn a Division 1 golf scholarship.
“That’s my goal,” said Ryan. “I’m very excited about the future.”
With Mass Am and Junior Am berths already on his impressive resume, Ryan’s goal of playing college golf at a high level is clearly attainable.
Keep an eye on the Winthrop golfer with the big swing and the big game.