PGA TOUR reacts to the death of Grayson Murray

FORT WORTH, Texas — The PGA TOUR community has responded with sadness, shock and sympathy to the passing of two-time PGA TOUR winner Grayson Murray.

The Raleigh, North Carolina, native passed away unexpectedly Saturday at the age of 30. PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan and many of Murray’s fellow PGA TOUR players have expressed condolences to his family and shared their memories of Murray, both on social media and at this week's Charles Schwab Challenge.

“Grayson was a remarkable player,” Commissioner Monahan said. “But he was a very courageous man as well, and I’ve always loved that about him.”

After completing Sunday's final round at Colonial, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler said it was hard to play golf after the news, but he knew that Murray's family wished for competition to proceed.

"Obviously it was a pretty difficult day to come out to the golf course with news of Grayson yesterday and, you know, spent that moment of silence today really just thinking about him and praying for his family and his fiancée, and obviously it was pretty difficult to come play golf," Scheffler said. "But like his parents said, he would have wanted the tournament to continue.

"I got to know him fairly well over the last few months, shared a couple meals with him, played a couple practice rounds. I was with him for a few hours, he was at our rental house last week. It's a tough day for all of us out here on TOUR and we're thinking about his family and we're praying hard for them, for sure."

Akshay Bhatia, a fellow North Carolina native and two-time TOUR winner, shared a photo on Instagram of him congratulating Murray after Murray's win at this year's Sony Open in Hawaii. “Words can’t describe how tough this is,” Bhatia wrote. “A great friend that always supported me as I did to him. I’m gonna miss you so much man. You fought so hard.”

Justin Thomas posted on X that he was “speechless,” adding: “Guy has been through so many ups and downs to get to where he was. I hurt so much for his family and people closest to him.”

Webb Simpson first met Murray when he was around 8 years old in their shared hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina.

“He was a competitor and a great player,” Simpson said.

Fourteen years ago, Murray became the first winner of Simpson’s junior tournament, the Webb Simpson Challenge. Both Simpson and Murray had worked with swing coach Ted Kiegiel, the director of golf at Carolina Country Club in Raleigh, at various points in their careers. Simpson shared a meal with Murray at this year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and encouraged him at the recent Wells Fargo Championship, saying that Murray was well on his way to establishing himself as a top-50 player.

“When you hear news like that over the phone you don't think it's real at first, and you know, you hear the emotion coming from our swing coach and then you realize it's real,” Simpson said.

“You know, I think he has really explored his faith over the years, and it seemed like the last six months to eight months he had really started committing his life to Christ and trying to honor Christ with his life. It definitely seemed like there was more of a lightness to him, in a good way, over these past few months when I would see him,” he said.

Murray finished 10th at the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte two weeks ago. His family was there to watch him compete that week in his home state.

“His mom talked about being at Quail Hollow for the entire week and seeing him play so well, being so proud of the way he played and for them to share that week together is a memory that she will take forward and cherish for the rest of her life,” Commissioner Monahan told CBS. “Obviously this is a family that is devastated and there are so many members of that family that are coming together, and they are going to have our full support.”

Murray was a talented player since his youth, winning three consecutive Callaway Golf Junior World titles and making a cut on the Korn Ferry Tour at just 16 years old. He was a PGA TOUR rookie at 23 years old and earned his first PGA TOUR title that season, winning the 2017 Barbasol Championship. Murray won his second PGA TOUR title at this year’s Sony Open in Hawaii.

Peter Malnati, who played alongside Murray in the first two rounds of this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge, broke down into tears while speaking Saturday with CBS’ Amanda Balionis.

“We all want to beat each other,” Malnati said. “And then something like this happens and you realize that we’re all just humans. It’s just a really, really hard day.”

He added: “It’s a huge loss for all of us on the PGA TOUR. It’s a huge loss for our fans. At a time like this you realize that, as much as we want to beat each other, as much as we want to be competitive, we really are one big family and we lost one today, and that’s terrible.”

Luke Donald called the news "truly devastating" in a post on X. “He asked me for some advice on how to play Augusta a few months ago, last week I saw him at the PGA Championship, life truly is precious," Donald wrote.

“(Grayson) was a true gentleman,” posted Matthieu Pavon.

Kip Henley, who caddied for Murray for two of his Korn Ferry Tour victories, posted on X that he was “lost for words.” Murray “had a heart of gold,” Henley wrote.

“My heart and prayers go out to his beautiful family,” Henley wrote. “They are (the) sweetest people who couldn’t have loved their son anymore (sic) than they did.”

Editor's note: If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please call the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the United States at 988 or visit their website at 988lifeline.org.