Golfer Grayson Murray died by suicide, family confirms

Pro golfer Grayson Murray’s family has confirmed he died by suicide after news of his death shocked the sports community over the weekend.

Murray, a two-time PGA Tour winner, died Saturday, the day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas. He was 30 years old.

His parents, Eric and Terry Murray, said in a statement Sunday that “life wasn’t always easy for Grayson, and although he took his own life, we know he rests peacefully now.”

“We have spent the last 24 hours trying to come to terms with the fact that our son is gone,” they wrote. “It’s surreal that we not only have to admit it to ourselves, but that we also have to acknowledge it to the world. It’s a nightmare.”

Murray, who gained full status on the PGA Tour in 2017, won the Barbasol Championship that year at age 23.

Last year, he scored two wins on the Korn Ferry Tour, at the AdventHealth Championship in Kansas City, Missouri, and the Simmons Bank Open outside Nashville, Tennessee.

Murray went on to win the Sony Open in Hawaii this year — hitting a wedge shot to 3 feet for birdie on the final hole to get into a playoff and winning it with a 40-foot putt.

Murray had been open about having struggled with alcoholism and mental health. At a news conference after he won the Sony Open in January, he told reporters that he used to drink during tournament weeks and that alcohol was his “outlet.”

“That was over seven years ago, and I’m a different man now,” he said. “And I would not be in this position right now today if I didn’t put that drink down eight months ago.”

Murray also shared that he struggled with anxiety and depression, which he said “stemmed a lot from alcohol use,” and that he suffered from self-esteem issues. But his life changed, he said, when he stopped “trying to fight it alone” and decided to ask for help.

“There were days where I didn’t want to get out of bed. I just thought I was a failure. I always looked at myself as a failure. I thought I had a lot of talent that was just a waste of talent,” he said. “And it was a bad place, but like I said, you have to have courage. You have to have the willingness to keep going. And lo and behold, that’s what I did.”

In their statement, his parents wrote: “We have so many questions that have no answers. But one. Was Grayson loved? The answer is yes. By us, his brother Cameron, his sister Erica, all of his extended family, by his friends, by his fellow players and — it seems — by many of you who are reading this. He was loved and he will be missed.”

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan also said in a statement Saturday that he was “devastated” to learn of Murray’s death that morning.

“The PGA TOUR is a family, and when you lose a member of your family, you are never the same,” he said. “We mourn Grayson and pray for comfort for his loved ones.”

Grief counselors will be available at this week’s PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour events, the news release said.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.