Golf world’s heartbreaking reaction to Grayson Murray’s shock death
The golfing world is in shock and struggling to comprehend the sudden death of two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray.
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There has been a devastating outpouring of grief in the golfing world after the sudden death of two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray.
Murray, who was just 30 years old, took the unusual step of withdrawing from the second round of this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge event in Texas on Friday (Saturday AEST) with two holes remaining.
He was in contention to make the cut at the time and reportedly cited an illness for his withdrawal, with the PGA Tour then announcing his death on Sunday Australian time.
Born in North Carolina, Murray had been open during his career about his battles with depression and alcohol, but appeared to have his life on track when he won the lucrative Sony Open in Hawaii in January.
“A lot of things are going right in my life right now and I’m at peace,” he said after winning a three-way playoff and the $2.25 million first prize.
Just over four months later, a man who was the 58th-ranked golfer in the world has died, with a wide range of people associated with the sport reacting with shock and dismay at the news.
Fellow American Peter Malnati, who played alongside Murray in the opening two rounds at the Colonial Country Club in Texas, gave a heartwrenching interview to CBS Sports upon hearing the news.
“This is going to be really hard,” Malnati said through tears.
“I didn’t know Grayson all that well, but I spent the last few days with him.
“It’s so funny... we get so worked up out here about a bad break here or a good break there.
“You know, we’re so competitive, so competitive out here. We all want to beat each other and then something like this happens and you realise we’re all just humans.
“This is just a really, really hard day because you look at Grayson and you see in him someone who has visibly, outwardly struggled in the past and he’s been open about it.
“And you see him get his life back to a place where he’s feeling good about things. It’s just so sad.
“I was with him yesterday and he was playing great. Like his game is so good, he’s so good at golf.”
A hugely talented junior golfer, Murray bounced between the PGA and secondary Korn Ferry Tours during his career, winning the 2017 Barbasol Championships as a PGA rookie.
Murray suffered a major setback in October 2022 when he and his then-caddie Doug Schwimmer were injured in a scooter accident at the Bermuda Championship, with both colliding head on with a car coming in the other direction.
Murray suffered major injuries, knocked unconscious and reportedly requiring 50 stitches, later crediting a helmet with saving his life.
He won three times on the Korn Ferry Tour, including two victories in 2023 to earn his PGA Tour card before his victory in Hawaii got his 2024 season off to a perfect start.
Malnati told a story in his interview about Murray’s standing when he was a young up-and-coming golfer.
“Maybe if I tell a story about him, that’ll help me get some composure,” he said.
“I think this is a really telling story. He’ll be the first to admit that college wasn’t real good for him, it didn’t work out great.
“He spent one semester at Wake Forest and Jerry Haas (a legendary 25-year coach at Wake Forest University) was his coach there.
“Jerry coached Bill (Haas), he coached Webb Simpson, he coached (Will) Zalatoris among many others.
“I got to talk to Jerry a handful of years ago, I was at their practice facility. He told me ‘I had Bill come through here, I had Webb. But the most talented player that ever set foot on this campus I only got to keep for one semester and that was Grayson Murray’.
“Grayson put that talent on display this year and it was really, really fun to see.
“Just to know that he’s not going to be doing it anymore. It’s a huge loss for all of us on the PGA tour, for all our fans.
“It’s times like this that you realise that as much as we want to beat each other, as much as we want to be competitive, we are one big family and we lost one today. That’s terrible.”
The Tour offered to immediately suspend this week’s tournament, but Murray’s family turned that down, stating he would have wanted the event to continue.
Some of the most devastating reaction came from Murray’s former caddie Kip Henley, who carried his bag between May and November last year in a successful partnership before the caddie was sacked in a move that surprised golfing circles.
“Something was telling me to reach out to the kid the last few days and I didn’t,” Henley wrote in a post on X.
“100 people mentioned him to me for some reason. I should have mended our fences way better and so sad I didn’t.
“Speaking and working things out will ALWAYS be the best for ourselves and especially others.”
In another tweet, Henley wrote simply: “Damn it Grayson.”
Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson was among those that expressed their sadness.
“Very sad to hear the news of Grayson Murray’s passing today,” Watson wrote. “Life is so fragile… I was just hugging you at the Masters, telling you how proud of you I am. Thankful to have known you. My deepest condolences to his family and friends during this difficult time. He will be missed.”
Golfer Patrick Sullivan tweeted: “Sad to hear about the passing of Grayson Murray. I didn’t know him at all, but he was one of the people who reached out to me when I was struggling. I will always remember that. RIP.”
Ex-professional and noted golf commentator Smylie Kaufman wrote: “I’m just heartbroken hearing about the passing of Grayson Murray. He was a friend to me at some of my lowest points in my career and I’ll always be appreciative of that. I will miss him very much but I know he is in good hands now. “
The account of golf equipment and apparel company Titleist wrote: “We are heartbroken to learn about the sudden loss of Grayson Murray. Our deepest condolences to his family, friends and the entire PGA TOUR community during this impossibly difficult time. Rest in peace, Grayson.”
Tour pro Webb Simpson, who knew Murray since he was a child, was interviewed at the Charles Schwab tournament.
“Grayson and I, we have a long history,” an emotional Simpson said.
“I think I first met Grayson at my home club when Grayson was probably eight years old, maybe nine.
“And he was the first winner of the Webb Simpson Challenge junior tournament I’ve had for 14 years.
“When you hear news like that over the phone, you don’t think it’s real at first.”
Simpson had to pause before continuing, saying: “You hear the emotion coming from our swing coach (Ted Kiegiel) and then you realise it’s real.
“But I know that his mum was with him during (this month’s) Wells Fargo Championship and they were hanging out together and I love those two days we got together.
“I’m super thankful for getting some good time with him.”
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan also gave a press conference at the Charles Schwab Tournament after the news had been announced.
Back in 2021 in a tweet that was later deleted, Murray expressed his disappointment that the Tour hadn’t offered him more support during his battles with alcohol.
“The PGA Tour didn’t force me to drink,” Murray wrote. “But the PGA Tour never gave me help. In my 5 years of experience of being on tour not once have I ever had a request been acknowledged by the commissioner or the PAC (Player Advisory Council) other than ‘we will get back to you’.
“I hope not only the PGA Tour steps up in the areas they need to step up but I also hope people are held accountable in their roles they serve.”
Monahan was asked about that tweet on Sunday.
“When Grayson said that, I called him right away and over the last several years, I spent a lot of time with him,” Monahan said.
“I wanted to understand what we could do in his estimation, in his opinion, to help everybody else out here and we made a number of advancements along those lines and it’s become a real point of focus and emphasis.
“We’re proud of the programs we have in place to support everyone out here.
“I’m devastated by Grayson’s loss, obviously, the conversations I had with him, particularly the last year, I learned an awful lot form him.
“He was very open and transparent with me and most importantly, I think back to his talking about how he was interested in real estate and he’d become interested in things he wasn’t interested in before.
“He talked about the peace he had in his life. Everything he talked about after he won the Sony Open … I found inspiration in that personally and I found inspiration in that as a leader of this Tour.”
Murray was engaged to fiancee Christian Ritchie, who he proposed to in December last year.
Originally published as Golf world’s heartbreaking reaction to Grayson Murray’s shock death
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