Sony Open: Grayson Murray conquered his demons and fear to pull off a truly inspired win

2024 may just be Grayson Murray’s year.

Perhaps one of his New Year’s resolutions was "to win a PGA Tour title again." Well, at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, that happened, with the 30-year-old making the birdie putt of his life on the par-5 18th, the first hole of a three-man playoff, to secure his second PGA Tour victory at the Sony Open.

Steeling his nerves while Keegan Bradley and Byeong Hun An both missed six and 17-foot putts, Murray’s winning stroke was fearless.

Murray went through a tremendous rough patch the past three years, with a bender that took place, incidentally, in Hawaii. A bar incident in Waialae that resulted in a probation from the tour was the first wake-up call for the player.

The incident initiated a low period for the North Carolina native, who took to social media in 2021 to lament about his struggle with alcohol and the lack of support he felt from the PGA Tour.

“No the pga tour didn’t force me to drink,” he wrote on X at the time, via Golf.com. “But the pga tour never gave me help. In my 5 years of experience of being on tour not once have i ever had a request been acknowledged by the commissioner or the PAC other than ‘we will get back to you’.”

Murray entered rehab that year, but his struggles continued when he returned to the tour in 2022, with an October 2022 scooter crash in Bermuda not helping.

Murray also got into a verbal tussle with Rory McIlroy at that infamous players' meeting with PGA commissioner Jay Monahan during the Canadian Open last year. Tensions were high after the announcement that the PGA Tour was going to form an agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund — the LIV Golf tour’s sponsor — after having waged war with them for the last two years. Murray spoke up during the meeting, which resulted in McIlroy snapping at him to “Just play better, Grayson.” His reaction? “F*** off.”

Grayson Murray wins 2024 Sony Open on long road back to winner's circle

It's been a bumpy road back to winning for Murray.

But the world No. 132 (sure to go up as of Monday) golfer also put in the hard work last year, playing both the PGA and Korn Ferry Tours, where he won twice: the Simmons Bank Open last fall and the AdventHealth Championship in May. He also finished T10 twice that year on the PGA Tour.

“I'm over eight months sober now,” Murray said, according to Golf Digest. “I have a beautiful fiancée that I love so much, and who is so supportive of me, and my parents are so supportive of me. My caddie, Jay [Green] is one of my biggest cheerleaders. Just makes everything so easy when I get out here inside the ropes.

“You know, they're right there with me when I do have those hard days, and I still have hard days, but I feel a lot more at peace inside the ropes now.”

How did Murray execute that bold 38 foot putt to secure the Sony Open win?

A new attitude towards fear on the course.

Last fall Murray turned to self-defense and “global fear management expert” Tony Blauer, who specializes in performance psychology, and whose clientele includes law enforcement, military and professional self-defense instructors.

“It’s crazy how fear is one of those things that it happens to all of us; we wouldn’t be human if we didn’t experience fear,” Murray said in a Golf.com interview last year. “Being out here on the golf course trying to win tournaments, there’s a lot of things going through your mind, and whether you want to call it fear or not—I think us men don’t like to use that word. But there’s a lot of times where, oh, there’s water left, you don’t want to hit it left — that’s a fear.”

The win in Hawaii is the first for the golfer since his maiden PGA title at the 2017 Barbasol Championship.

Murray’s emotional interview afterwards won a lot of fans, with his humility and grace. This is a comeback that a lot of us can get behind. And it looks like things are looking up in 2024 for Grayson Murray.