'Jesus Christ Changed My Life': PGA Golf Champ Grayson Murray Shares How He Quit Drinking for Good
After winning the Sony Open in Honolulu, Hawaii on Sunday by sinking a 40-foot birdie putt in a playoff, PGA champion golfer Grayson Murray shared some intimate details about how he overcame alcoholism and how he would be a different man if he hadn't decided to put down the bottle eight months ago.
In front of a live national TV audience, he credited Jesus for his success saying, "Jesus Christ is first and foremost. Without him, none of this would be possible."
Murray, 30, has been sober for eight months. He says he got tired of alcohol fueling his arrogance in public and making him feel like a failure for wasting talent in his private moments.
He feels renewed through Christianity and is getting married in April to a woman who became a big part of a small support group.
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During his younger years, Murray was considered one of the top players in golf, winning IMG Junior World titles in 2006, '07 and '08, according to PGATour.com. At the age of 16, he made the cut to become the second youngest to play on the Korn Ferry Tour, the developmental tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour. At the age of 19, he played in the 2013 U.S. Open at the Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.
Murray told the outlet, he forgot who he was for a time due to his drinking. He said two years ago, he probably should have gotten sober as a patient at the Hazelden Betty Ford Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center in Minnesota.
"After treatment, I got out and did pretty well for a while," Murray said. "Like everyone, you think you can get back to having a couple. It just was a slippery slope, and I got back in it."
Then in the fall of 2022 at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, another wakeup call came after he drove his scooter into oncoming traffic. The accident left him with 50 stitches with half of them on his face.
"I should have died," Murray told PGATour.com. "If I didn't have my helmet on, I probably would have died. It should have been my rock bottom, but I had to keep going. I felt like I was still invincible."
Then last April, while playing at the Barbasol Championship in Vallarta, Mexico, instead of resting for the next day after shooting a first-round 68, his off-the-course behavior led him to have an anxiety attack that lasted for four days.
"I went out to the pool," he told PGA Tour.com, "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."
"I did not want to go through that ever again," the PGA golfer continued, "and that was the last time I had a drink. I would have rather been dead, those four days. I just kind of locked myself in my room and didn't tell my parents or anything. It was bad. It was really, really bad."
Murray told PGATour.com he would drink during tournament weeks. It was his outlet after winning as a 22-year-old rookie.
"It took me a long time to get to this point," he continued. "… 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."
Coming off the course of the Waialae Country Club after winning the Sony Open, Murray was asked by an NBC Sports reporter on live television, "What did you show yourself today?"
"That a lot of hard work pays off. 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," he replied. "And just persevere. When you get tired of fighting, let someone else fight for you. And that's what happened."
When asked about his work to overcome his mental struggles off the course to get in the right mind to play, Murray, becoming emotional, answered, "It's everything."
"Jesus Christ is first and foremost. Without him, none of this would be possible. And he's just given me a platform to write a new story. To write my own story. And I hope that everyone at home watching can get a little inspiration from me," he said.
"If I just help one person that's all it takes," he added.
Murray, who earned his way back to the PGA Tour with two wins on the Korn Ferry Tour last year, is now looking forward to playing in the Masters for the first time in April. He has also earned a spot in the seven remaining PGA signature events.
He admitted to NBC Sports his winning the Sony Open was "a lot for my career." But Murray also explained, "I knew today was not going to change my life. My fiancée changed my life. Jesus Christ changed my life. Today wasn't going to change my life, but it did change my career a little bit. And I'm excited."
"Jesus Christ is first and foremost."
— Sports Spectrum (@Sports_Spectrum) January 15, 2024
— Golfer Grayson Murray giving all glory to God after an incredible victory on Sunday at the @SonyOpenHawaii.pic.twitter.com/3r5ijpzUig
