Golf world mourns death of Grayson Murray: ‘It’s a huge loss for all of us on the PGA Tour’

Peter Malnati played the first two days of this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge alongside Grayson Murray, who withdrew after 16 holes in Round 2, citing illness.

After finding out about Murray’s death on Saturday morningand after completing his third round at Colonial Country Club, Malnati spoke with Amanda Balionis of CBS Sports.

“It’s a big loss for all of us on the PGA Tour,” a shocked Malnati said. “As much as we want to beat each other, we are a big family and today we lost one. It’s awful.”

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said he learned about Murray’s death around 11 a.m. Monahan said he spoke with Murray’s family and then flew to Ft. Worth, Texas.

Three years ago, Murray, who had publicly struggled with alcohol and mental health issues, posted on social media that he felt the Tour was not doing enough to help players suffering from illnesses like his.

Monahan told media gathered at Colonial that he and Murray had since had several positive conversations.

“When Grayson said that, I called him right away. You know, over the last few years, I spent a lot of time with him because I wanted to understand what we could do, in his opinion, to help everyone else here,” Monahan said Saturday.

“I am devastated by the loss of Grayson… in the conversations I had with him, particularly last year, I learned a lot from him. He was very open and transparent with me.”

In January, Murray won the Sony Open, his first PGA Tour victory in nearly seven years. He later spoke of greater triumphs, saying that he had been sober for eight months, that he was committed and that he had become a Christian.

“You look at Grayson and you see someone who was visibly and outwardly struggling in the past, and he’s been open about it,” Malnati said. “And then you see him bring his life back to a place where he feels good about things… it’s so sad.”

The devastation felt by Malnati and Monahan permeated the golf community. These are just some of the reactions of those who mourn the loss of the 30-year-old:

“Obviously the news hasn’t fully sunk in yet, but I’m thinking about his family and praying a lot for all of them. I can’t imagine how difficult this time is. I’ve gotten to know Grayson a little better. “Over the last six months or so and, yes, really, there is no way to put into words how sad and tragic it is, but I am thinking about his family. —Scottie Scheffler

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“My boy lived a hard life. His struggles are over and I know he’s not in pain anymore. I hate losing someone who, no matter what people said, was always so good to me. RIP brother.” — Will Zalatoris

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“I think I first met Grayson at my local club when Grayson was probably 8, maybe 9. He was the first Webb Simpson Challenge Junior Tournament winner I’ve had in 14 years. So when you hear news like that on the phone at first you don’t believe it’s real, and you know, you hear the excitement coming from our (once shared) swing coach (Ted Kiegiel) and then you realize it’s real but I know his mother was with him. during the Wells Fargo Championship and I think they were together, and I loved those two days we were (grouped) together, so I’m very grateful to have a good time with him before the bad news today.” — Webb Simpson

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