HOW GRAYSON MURRAY RECLAIMED HIS LIFE AT THE SONY OPEN

The American overcame anxiety attacks on a recovery that helped him claim a win in Hawaii.

Before he birdied the par-5 18th hole twice on Sunday 14 January in the final round– once to shoot 67 and join a playoff with Byeong Hun An and Keegan Bradley, and another from 38 1/2 feet to win the Sony Open in Hawaii — Grayson Murray was sharing some of the most intimate and harrowing details of his adult life.

This was at The RSM Classic at Sea Island in November, Murray standing on the practice green while the powers that be prepared to surprise Chris Kirk with the PGA TOUR Courage Award in the nearby media room. The temptation was to make them into the same person. Two bearded gingers. Two guys walking the same path.

“I know Kirk,” Murray said. “I’ve talked to him about it. In the past, we’ve just gone to the bar and drank, and that kind of covered our time, but obviously, we don’t do that anymore.” The “it” and the “that” are the same: alcohol use. Murray, 30, was once one of the best players in the world for his age, winning IMG Junior World titles in 2006, ’07 and ’08. At 16, he became the second youngest to make the cut on the Korn Ferry Tour.

That aura of invincibility shattered at the Mexico Open at Vidanta last April.

“I went out to the pool,” he said, “played pool volleyball, and I had too many and woke up the next day before my round and started to chug some alcohol before the round just to get rid of the jitters. And I got out there and shot like 80. ( He shot 79.) I got home and had an anxiety attack that lasted four days; it was the worst feeling ever.”

Using some of the methods from Betty Ford, Murray, tired of the guilt and relieved to be alive, resolved to sober up for good. He began to play better almost immediately and, after missing the cut at the Byron Nelson, captured the Adventhealth Championship back on the Korn Ferry Tour.

“It took me a long time to get to this point,” he continued, the Sony Open trophy secure. “… I’m a different man now. I would not be in this position right today if I didn’t put that drink down eight months ago.”

Once Murray started to see Tony Blauer, a fear-management expert specialising in self-defence the results came quickly.

After Murray captured his second win of 2023 at the Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation in September. He was headed back to the TOUR.

At the Sony Open, Murray, who shared the 54-hole lead with Bradley, deployed a few of Blauer’s favorite acronyms: “S-O-P” (Succeed on Purpose) and “W-I-N” (What’s Important Now). But he also expects more hard days when he’ll need every ounce of help from his family and especially his faith.

Golf has given him a second chance. And at the Sony Open, he capitalised on that chance to climb all the way back to the top, just where he was in junior golf. “It was a bad place,” he added, “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 so blessed and I’m thankful.”