Dive into the intriguing lifestyle of Grayson Murray, the rising golf star known for his unique approach to the game and life off the course. This video explores his daily routine, interests, and the balance he strikes between competition and personal pursuits, showcasing how he navigates fame, passion, and the challenges of professional golf. Join us for an inspiring glimpse into the world of Grayson Murray!
Ode to the Fallen, the Grayson Murray story. On the 25th of May, 2024, the world of golf was shocked to hear of the demise of one of their own, Grayson Murray. It was only 24 hours ago that the 30-year-old had withdrawn from the Colonial. If we backtrack to 4 months ago, Mary was all smiles and posing for the camera as he held up the 2024 Sony Open Trophy. His new year was off to a flying start and he may have expected it to be the first of many for the rest of the season. A peak in Mary’s life is to have a sit down with his inner demons much like anyone else. However, like the best of us, the late golfer had gone from letting said demons take precedence to putting them in their place. That’s what makes this cause of death all the more shocking to everyone. But this video isn’t a criticism of the kind of life he led, but the legacy he left behind. as a reformed individual who was starting to play some of the best golf of his life. Background: Mary was a natural at golf. He first picked up the sport at just 8 years of age. As he developed, he became a mustwatch, winning the Callaway Junior World Championships three consecutive times between 2006 and 2008. This made him the highest ranked golfer in his age group. Although his junior career was as great as they come, Mary struggled to replicate his form at the collegiate level. He attended Wake Forest, then East Carolina, and finally Arizona State. At age 16, he made his first cut on the Korn Ferry Tour, earning the record of the second youngest player to manage the feat. After his stints at all three universities, Murray was given a sponsor exemption to play in the Korn Ferry Tour event happening near his hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina. This proved to be another stepping stone for the teenage Mary who bagged a top 10 finish at the Rex Hospital Open, earning himself another qualification to start at the next event. Then came the BMW charity ProAm where he made another top 20 finish. At this point, the golfing world took notice of the boy wonder. It was around this time that his professional career was starting to gather steam. He finished the tour season with a victory at the nationwide children’s hospital championship. This took him second on the corn ferry tour money list and he was straight qualified for the PGA Tour for the 201617 season. This win came a week before his 23rd birthday. When the new season started on the PGA Tour, he wound up bagging the 2017 Barbasol Championship in his debut campaign in style. He played 68 in the final round to secure a one-shot victory up to the 2019 PGA Tour season, a two-year exemption. Afterward, he participated in the FedEx Cup and took home around $1.5 million for his 66th place finish. Then came the Demons to steal this one away. Mary was a complicated person, which whatever way you look at it makes him just another regular Joe. His professional career spanned nine years, which included two PGA Tour victories and an infamous behavior in public and online. Mary was mostly known for his questionable and often abrasive outburst rather than his golfing skills. This wasn’t helped any further when he began struggling for several reasons on the tour. In fact, he had to return to the Korn Ferry Tour to make his way back to the PGA Tour in 2023. Thanks to two consecutive victories in the Simmons Bank Open outside of Nashville and the Advent Health Championship in Kansas City, where he came fourth on the Cornferry Tour points list to earn his PGA Tour spot for the 2024 season. So, at the start of the year, when he emerged victorious in the Sony Open just 2 weeks into the new year, it felt like Mary was finally going to live up to his talent. This victory also came after a lengthy spell of battling depression and anxiety during his career. To make matters worse, he also had a drinking problem. Much of this was hidden from the public eye. Although his frequent outburst and egregious online post pointed to things not being well with the North Carolina native, it wasn’t until his confession a year or two ago that we really found out what demons he’d been battling alone. Mary confessed that he was largely unprepared for his professional career when he finished college and how he turned to the bottle to cope with his challenges. In his words, “Yes, I would drink during tournament weeks. It was my outlet. I thought I was invincible coming out here as a 22-year-old, winning as a rookie. Played three days hung over when I won. Best thing and worst thing that ever happened to me was winning my rookie year, but also feeling like I was invincible.” Road to redemption. To his credit though, Murray didn’t simply wallow in his despair. He set out to turn his life and career around and even had the idea of beating his career best of seven top 25. His Sony Open win in January seemed like he was off to a bright start and by May he was already in two majors in the same season. Frog Keegan Bradley and Bjang Hun an to the trophy. After that victory, Mary had become a Christian and was engaged to Christina Richie with the couple’s wedding planned for late April. Took me a long time to get to this point. He said, “I’m a different man now. I would not be in this position right now today if I hadn’t put that drink down 8 months ago. People who don’t know me, I’ll have to show it through my actions and they’ll get back on Grayson’s side. My demeanor is so much better. It’s really a lot of fun now. I really don’t live and die by a golf shot anymore. I’m not going to sit here and say it’s going to be all glory and roses, but it’s going to be a lot better given his openness about anxiety, depression, and alcoholism spells. His victory in the 2023 season of the Cornferryy Tour was monumental. As Mary revealed, his parents had been through hell and back basically for the last 6 years for me fighting some mental stuff. Everyone has their battles, Mary said in 2023. Sometimes people are able to hide them and function and sometimes you’re not. I think our society is now getting better at accepting that it’s okay to not be okay. I’ve embraced that mentality. I’m not ashamed that I go through depression and anxiety. Social media, which Mary used as a tool to further his abrasive outbursts, also became an outreach tool with which he kept in touch with other sports figures dealing with similar demons. He understood more than anyone how much losing was much more common than winning and what that meant for mental health. Mary said he often battled with feelings of inadequacy. He’d gone from winning on the PGA Tour in his debut campaign to having a dry spell for 6 years. Winning on the Korn Ferry Tour was his ticket back to the big leagues. Yet, even that was ultimately not enough. I just thought I was a failure. I always looked at myself as a failure. I thought I had a lot of talent, but that was just a waste of talent. He said in Honolulu, “It was a bad place.” But like I said, you have to have courage. You have to have the willingness to keep going. Lo and behold, that’s what I did. And I’m here, and I’m blessed, and I’m thankful. So, his victory at the Sony Open was more than just another win. It was a statement of intent. Mary was back in the Masters for the first time. It was a new chapter in his life. “My story is not finished. I think it’s just the beginning,” Mary said in Hawaii. “I hope I can inspire a lot of people going forward that have their own issues.” death. Mary’s opening statement after his victory in Hawaii in January was, “It’s not easy. I wanted to give up a lot of times. Give up on myself. Give up on the game of golf. Give up on life at times.” A week to the 25th, Mary finished T43 in the PGA Championship in June at Pinehurst number two in his hometown of North Carolina. At the Colonial, Murray shot 68 in the opening round and finished the next round five over and coming off three straight bogeies. It was around this time that he downed tools and withdrew from the competition, his reasons for illness. Fast forward to less than 24 hours later on Sunday the 25th of May 2024. The world received shocking news from his parents via the PGA tour. Grayson Murray was no more taken his own life by suicide. legacy. It’s unfair to simplify Murray’s legacy as an average golfer with more victories in his amateur career than professional wins. Also, how he passed isn’t a measure of the man he was or the strength of his character. Mental health issues affect us in different ways, but worst of all is how it drives us to act. It makes you feel like your pain is all-consuming and inescapable, like taxes or death. Depression and anxiety are persuasive liars that color one’s mind and overpower them at their darkest moments. Falling for this trickery doesn’t mean weakness. It means ultimately that they are human and failing is part of the human experience. In the Merry family statement through the tour, they thank the organization for being a place their son could come to. This is hard enough given the situation at hand, but it also puts into perspective whether or not the tour did enough to help Mary. While the tour’s efforts are debatable, the awful truth is that no amount of available support will save everyone. We can all lament that Mary’s life was short-lived and for the last couple of years painful for the golfer. But his legacy isn’t a measure of his struggles, but how he leaves the world. In the years leading up to his demise, Mary helped shed light on mental health struggles at the risk of personal embarrassment and social ostraization. This helped normalize it for other golfers to speak up about their struggles and take the time off to care for themselves. And all of that began with one man deciding to turn his life around. So, what Mary wasn’t the most pleasant person for a long time, but if his sacrifice means we don’t get to lose more golfers to the same path that swallowed him, that’s a win and makes him one of the best of us.
