Golf: Olympic great Eric Murray on his newfound love of golf ahead of taking on

When Eric Murray hung up his oars in 2017, he found himself with a void to fill.

Calling time on his highly decorated rowing career wasn’t something he viewed as a retirement per se, but more a change in career path for the next stage of his life.

But having spent a lot of time dedicating himself to his sport, he found himself with extra time on his hands and looked for a new hobby to fill that with.

“It was just trying to fill those voids where you’re not sitting at home and have other things to do,” the two-time Olympic champion said. “I filled a lot of that spare time, one, with renovating a house and two, playing a lot of golf.

“It did really help, and I just wanted to find something to keep me active outside and fit, and golf seemed to really fill that spot.”

Murray was no stranger to swinging a club, having played a bit in his youth before turning all of his sporting attention to rowing in high school.

But at the end of 2017 he got back on the course and soon fell down the rabbit hole of working on his game and trying to find those small improvements to help bring his score down.

A cool head on the course and not one to let the frustrations of the game get the better of him, Murray has put time into getting better and, now playing off a 3.4 handicap, he said it has only made him appreciate the game and just how good the professionals are more.

“It’s taken time, but I’ve been able to work on it and it’s become my hobby, so to speak. You put in some practice time every week, try to play once a week, and you do start to see the fruits from that.

“You get to your level of where you are now, and it’s like, ‘how much time do you really want to put into it’? Because you can have natural talent and bits and pieces, but golf, I love it because it’s this game of millimetres and degrees. Half a degree wrong here and the ball is 20m left of the fairway or something like that. There are so many elements around it.”

Murray will get the opportunity to test himself in an Ambrose format against top Kiwi golfer Ryan Fox at Podis Promotions’ Super Six event at Royal Auckland next Friday — and was working on securing the services of a surprise celebrity caddy for the occasion.

Murray, a member at Tīeke Golf Estate near Hamilton, will team up with Tom Abercrombie and Simon Child as one of six teams to take Fox on in the event. Each team will play two holes with Fox, in a short-form stroke play format where the team, or individual, with the lowest score wins.

“It’s probably one of my favourite [formats] because everybody contributes at some level,” Murray said of playing Ambrose golf. “With the Super Six event with ol’ Foxy, it just takes it to another level because you’re trying to beat him and he’s such a good player.

“It’s a cool format; six holes, Foxy, and a few groups…