Commissioner Jay Monahan has revealed how the late Grayson Murray inspired the PGA Tour to improve its mental health programs before his tragic death.
Two-time PGA Tour winner Murray dies at age 30 – 24 hours after withdrawing towards the end of his second round of the Charles Schwab Challenge in Texas. He had told his playmates that he was not feeling well.
Murray was open about his struggles with alcohol and mental health, once saying, “I’m not ashamed of going through depression and anxiety.”
However, in 2021, he criticized the Tour for not helping him during his dark days. The tweet, which was later deleted, read: “No, the PGA Tour didn’t make me drink.” But the PGA Tour never helped me.
‘In my 5 years of tour experience, not once did the commissioner or PAC (Player Advisory Council) acknowledge a request other than “We will get back to you.”
The PGA Tour announced this Saturday the tragic death of Grayson Murray at the age of 30
Jay Monahan revealed how Murray inspired the Tour to improve his mental health programs
“I hope that not only does the PGA Tour move forward in the areas where it needs to, but I also hope that people are held accountable in the role they play.”
On Saturday, shortly after announcing Murray’s death, Monahan revealed how that Tweet prompted him to spend time with the golfer and make improvements to the way the tour addresses mental health.
“When Grayson said that, I called him right away,” Monahan said at Colonial Country Club, having flown in from the Tour’s headquarters in Florida.
‘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.
‘We have made a number of advances in that regard and it has become a real point of focus and emphasis. We’re proud of the programs we have in place to support our players, to support everyone here.
Monahan had previously said Murray’s death left him “speechless.”
The world number 58 appears alongside his fiancée, Christiana, in a post from earlier this year.
“We mourn Grayson and pray for comfort for his loved ones,” the PGA Tour commissioner said.
He later added: “I’m devastated by the loss of Grayson, obviously, but, no more, in the conversations I had with him, particularly last year, I learned a lot from him.”
‘He was very open and transparent with me. Most importantly, I think about how he was interested in real estate and how he had become interested in things that he wasn’t interested in before. He just talked about the peace he had in his life.’
Murray was particularly open about his off-course problems following the Sony Open in Hawaii in January, when he won his second PGA Tour title.
“Everything he talked about after winning the Sony Open, he talked to a lot of people, and I found inspiration in that personally, and I also found inspiration in that as the leader of this Tour.”