Andy Murray has won his first trophy since switching from tennis to golf.
Since retiring from tennis after losing in the men’s doubles at the Olympic Games on August 1, Murray has been focused on learning golf. His Twitter bio used to say, “I play tennis,” but now it says, “I played tennis. I now play golf.”
At 37 years old, he is bringing his competitive spirit from tennis to golf, aiming to improve his game and reduce his handicap to scratch in a few years. Last month, he participated in a Pro-Am event at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, where he impressed fellow Scot Bob MacIntyre and earned his first trophy in golf.
On Tuesday, he attended the Hanbury Manor Golf Club in Hertfordshire for the first BTJA Mike Dickson Golf Day. This event, organized by the British Tennis Journalists’ Association, honors the memory of former Daily Mail journalist Mike Dickson, who sadly passed away in January at the age of 59.
The BTJA’s post on Twitter announced that Murray had won the championship, which isn’t surprising given his skills in golf already. Currently, he has a handicap of seven but is taking regular lessons, and MacIntyre believes he will improve quickly.
“For someone who hasn’t played that much, I thought he was good,” said world No. 16 MacIntyre at Wentworth last month. “I was very impressed with his game. He’ll be scratch in no time.”
Right now, Murray is enjoying this new challenge. “It’s a different sort of nerves because you are comfortable in a tennis environment. I’m not worried about walking onto the tennis court and forgetting how to hit the ball,” he said at Wentworth.
“Here, though, there are people standing five meters away from where I’m driving, and I feel like I’m not good at this game. You just want to keep the ball in play and not mess up too much.”
He added, “I’m obviously getting to practice a lot more than the average person. I played a bit when I was younger, and if I can get the right lessons and practice the right things, then yes, I have a chance of succeeding.
“The lessons have made a huge difference. That’s been the most important thing for me. I used to go to the range and hit a lot of balls, and I could hit a few good ones. But if there’s a fundamental flaw in your swing, it doesn’t matter how many balls you hit at the range. So, getting lessons and working on those things is helping.”
