May 26 (UPI) — PGA golfer Grayson Murray died by suicide, his parents confirmed Sunday.
“We have spent the last 24 hours trying to come to terms with the fact that our son is gone,” Eric and Terry Murray said in a statement released on social media. “It’s surreal that we not only have to admit it to ourselves, but that we also have to acknowledge it to the world.”
In the statement, his parents added that “life wasn’t always easy for Grayson” but that they know “he rests peacefully now.”
Murray, 30, had withdrawn from the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial after the 16th hole of the second round on Friday in Fort Worth, Texas. The PGA Tour said he withdrew due to illness.
“We have so many questions that have no answers. But one. Was Grayson loved? The answer is yes,” his parents said in their statement. “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.
“We would like to thank the PGA Tour and the entire world of golf for the outpouring of support. Please respect our privacy as we work through this incredible tragedy, and please honor Grayson by being kind to one another. If that becomes his legacy, we could ask for nothing else.”
Murray had been open about working to overcome alcohol abuse as well as struggles with mental health. He won the Barbasol Championship as a 22-year-old PGA Tour rookie in 2017.
He said he often drank heavily during the week of a tournament because he knew he was talented and felt invincible. He said he had been sober for eight months when he won the Sony Open in January, winning it with a 40-foot putt.
“It took me a long time to get to this point,” Murray said in January. “That was seven years ago, over seven years ago. I’m a different man now. I would not be in this position right now today if I didn’t put that drink down eight months ago.”
Murray said he was engaged to be married and that he thought his best golf was still ahead of him. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan traveled to Fort Worth on Saturday and said grief counseling and other support services would be available to players.
“To be in the locker room, to see the devastation on the faces of every player that’s coming in, it’s really difficult to see. And really just profound,” Monahan said during a CBS broadcast Saturday.
“Grayson was a remarkable player on the PGA Tour, but he was a very courageous man, as well. And I’ve always loved that about him, and I know that the locker room is filled with people that really will take that away when they think about Grayson.”
Monahan said when he contacted Murray’s parents, they requested that the PGA continue with the tournament because that’s what their son would have wanted.
“They were adamant that Grayson would want us to do so,” Monahan said. “As difficult as it will be, we want to respect their wishes.”
