Grayson Murray, a PGA Tour winner, Dies aged 30
Grayson Murray, who earlier this year won his second PGA Tour championship at the Sony Open in Hawaii, passed suddenly on Saturday.
“We are deeply saddened—and it is with a heavy heart that we share—that PGA Tour player Grayson Murray passed away this morning,” stated PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan. I don’t know what to say. A family member’s death alters you irrevocably. We pray for Grayson’s loved ones’ comfort as we grieve him.
Commissioner Monahan went on, saying, “Grayson’s parents urged us to carry on with the tournaments when I reached out to them to offer my sincere sympathies. They maintained that this would be what Grayson would want. We want to respect their wishes, no matter how challenging that may be.”
The locations of this week’s PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour events offered grief counseling. Commissioner Monahan, who was traveling from the Tour headquarters in Florida to Fort Worth, Texas, promised to release additional details as they became available.
From a young age, Murray, 30, demonstrated exceptional golfing abilities. He was ranked #1 in his age category and had won three Callaway Junior World Championships in a row (2006–08). He became the second-youngest player to ever make his first cut on the Korn Ferry Tour when he was sixteen years old. He attended Wake Forest University, East Carolina University, and Arizona State University before receiving a sponsor exemption for a Korn Ferry Tour event in 2016, which was close to his home town of Raleigh, North Carolina. This was the big break he needed. That competition, the Rex Hospital Open, saw him place in the top 10, earning him a second start. In the BMW Charity Pro-Am, he placed in the top 10, which launched his professional career.
As a rookie, Murray made a name for himself on the grandest stage of golf very quickly. He won the 2017 Barbasol Championship at the young age of 23. In addition to securing a one-shot victory, his final round 68 also ensured a two-year exemption that would carry over into the 2019 PGA Tour season. In the FedExCup, he placed 66th and took home around $1.5 million.
For a few seasons after that, Grayson had trouble on the PGA Tour. He found his game again in 2023 while traveling the Korn Ferry Tour, winning two events: the Simmons Bank Open in the Nashville area and the Advent Health Championship in Kansas City. Having secured a position on the PGA Tour for the upcoming season, he finished fourth in the tour’s points standings.
Murray won a playoff match at the Sony Open in Hawaii to start the 2024 season. On the 72nd hole, he made a crucial up-and-down birdie that forced the playoff. Then, on the first extra hole, he defeated Keegan Bradley and Byeong Hun An with a 40-foot birdie putt.
