Andy Murray’s stunning weight loss revelation as he makes his golfing debut

Andy Murray displayed his golfing prowess among professional players at the BWW Championship at Wentworth and revealed he has shed a lot of weight since calling time on his tennis career after the Olympics last month.

Murray hinted he would need a new passion once he hung up his tennis rackets and has set himself a target to become a stratch golfer.

Murray was in jovial mood as he admitted he felt big nerves as he hit a fine opening tee-shot in the Pro Am event.

“I couldn’t really feel my arms and legs,” Murray said. “I didn’t really hit any balls on the range beforehand. Yeah, I was feeling it. But it got better. It got better as the round went on.

“It’s a different sort of nerves (to Wimbledon) because you are comfortable in the tennis environment. I’m not thinking I’m going to walk out on the tennis court and forget how to hit the ball, you just want to perform well.

“Whereas here, you’re sort of nervous about there’s people standing like five metres away from where I’m driving, and I’m like, I’m useless at this game. You just want to try and keep the ball in play and don’t mess up too much.

“I’m happy playing in front of nobody, to be honest. I’ve obviously got a lot of free time just now, so playing a few times a week, having lessons and just enjoying having something to focus my attention on.”

Murray’s dad William was his caddie for the day at Wentworth, although it may well be a short-lived arrangement.

“My dad might be getting the sack after his performance today,” joked Murray, who is a member of the golf club in his home town of Dunblane.

“He spent most of his time sort of following Bob around. I was like ‘I need my clubs, I need to putt’.

“But no, it was brilliant. During my tennis career, I didn’t get to spend loads of time with my dad travelling and everything. So getting to do that, it was a really cool day, as well.”

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Murray also revealed he has lost weight since ending his tennis career, much to his bemusement.

“I think just less calories and probably loss of muscle,” he added. “I’ve lost about 11, 12 pounds. It’s a lot. I was expecting the opposite to happen. It’s about five kilos.

“And she said: ‘Oh, if you’re just going to go and play golf, I don’t want that’. I was : ‘No, no, I’ll get myself in the gym, make sure I stay in shape’.

“I went to the gym three of the first four days after I stopped, worked really hard, and then went up to Scotland for a couple of days for a holiday, and haven’t been back since.

“It’s been five weeks I’ve not been in the gym, longest ever for me probably. I don’t know if it’s like appetite if I’m not eating as much, but we obviously have like loads of the sport drinks have got lot of calories in them, and I only really drink water and coffee now.

“So I don’t know, I think just less calories and probably loss of muscle. I’ve lost about 11, 12 pounds. It’s a lot. I was expecting the opposite to happen. It’s about five kilos.”

Murray partnered with Robert MacIntyre at Wentworth, with the Scottish professional backing his own sporting idol to achieve his ambition of becoming a scratch golfer “in no time”.

“It was brilliant,” MacIntyre said. “It was like a dream come true for me, (to play with) a sporting idol of mine. If I achieve half of what he achieved in his sport, then I’ll have overachieved to be honest with you.

“He was good for a guy that’s obviously not played that much golf. But he did say he was practising a hell of a lot in the lead up to this, and I thought he was good.

“I was very impressed with his game. I mean, he’ll be at scratch in no time.”