Wodonga-raised Zach Murray will embrace all the comforts of home as he seeks to break a five-year victory drought at the Webex Players Series Murray River, which begins today at Cobram Barooga Golf Club.
Murray has been playing courses along the Murray River since his junior days, the Stuart Appleby Murray River Junior Masters at Cobram Barooga his earliest touchstone to a player at the highest level of the game.
When he triumphed at the 2019 New Zealand Open in his first few months as a professional, Murray’s career appeared headed on a similar trajectory. Yet the disruption caused by COVID-19 and the anxiety he felt spending so much time away from home saw Murray’s Official World Golf Ranking fall to as low as 1,174th in early 2022.
Yet nine top-25 finishes on the Asian Tour in 2023 and the familiarity he feels playing Cobram Barooga’s Old course has Murray buoyant about what lies ahead this week and beyond.
“I just love playing golf so it’s nice to be able to compete somewhat close to home,” Murray said.
“If I’m in contention on Sunday, hopefully a few people from Wodonga can pop up and have a look because I do enjoy playing in front of friends and family. You just want to ultimately try and have that success to share it with them. It sucks when you don’t, but at the end of the day you play to try and win and have those cool memories. Hopefully that’s something that can happen.”
Eschewing the commute to and from Wodonga that he made each day for the inaugural tournament in 2022, this week Murray is staying at a house nearby owned by his partner Amy’s family. The 26-year-old believes that will only enhance his chances of winning a tournament he hopes will have a long future in the region.
Caddieing for local PGA professional Bernie Squire at the Wodonga Pro-Am as a kid remains a treasured memory and Murray knows the impact exposure to professional golf has on country kids.
“It’s funny how you remember certain things. I can vividly remember it,” Murray said of his introduction to pro golf. “To see a professional play when you’re 12 or 13 years old, to see how they work around the golf course and the shots they hit, you go home and just want to play. You want to get better.
“That’s a real reason why it’s important to have these events in some of these more rural areas. Hopefully an event like this, a few kids come out and it inspires them to keep going on their journey of playing golf. To have a tournament and to have sports events in regional towns is really great.”
No one will have greater course knowledge than course superintendent Terry Vogel, who accepted an invitation to join his daughter, Steffi, as a participant this week. A former Victorian State representative, Vogel is indicative of the type of people who make regional events such a success, according to Murray.
“What’s great about this event is that the club embraces it,” Murray said of Cobram Barooga Golf Club hosting the tournament for the third straight year. “You’ve got someone like Terry Vogel who is a really well-known name in Victorian golf. It’s great to see him playing this week because that’s the type of support that you need to elevate the tournament.
“It’s important to come to areas like this to showcase the game. And you can definitely see that the course has benefited from having a tournament here over the last three years.”
Play began at 7:30am today with Murray to tee off at 1:15pm alongside promising New South Wales amateur Jye Pickin and WPGA Tour member Amelia Mehmet-Grohn.
The Webex Players Series sees men and women compete on the same course for the one prize purse, Hannah Green creating a world-first with her victory at Cobram Barooga in 2022. For the final two rounds professionals are joined by 16 juniors who compete in the Webex Junior Players Series. The Webex All Abilities Players Series is also contested on Saturday and Sunday.
Entry is free for spectators all four days and the final two rounds are broadcast live on Fox Sports and Kayo, with coverage starting at 4pm AEDT on Saturday and 2pm AEDT on Sunday.
