Grayson Murray’s parents revealed Sunday that he died by suicide.
A two-time PGA Tour winner, Murray died on Saturday at 30 years old.
“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. “It’s surreal that we not only have to admit it to ourselves, but that we also have to acknowledge it to the world. It’s a nightmare.”
Murray previously talked openly about battling depression and alcoholism, and he had recently been in the midst of a career resurgence.
After winning the Sony Open in January, Murray said that he had been sober for eight months.
He was engaged to Christiana Ritchie, and the two lived together in Florida.
“We have so many questions that have no answers,” Eric and Terry Murray’s statement continued. “But one.
“Was Grayson loved? The answer is yes. 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 will be missed.”
Murray, a native of Raleigh, N.C., had withdrawn from the Charles Schwab Challenge on Friday before he died one day later.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said that he asked Murray’s family if they wanted to pause the tournament, but Murray’s family wished for it to continue.
“We would like to thank the PGA Tour and the entire world of golf for the outpouring of support,” the statement said. “Life wasn’t always easy for Grayson, and although he took his own life, we know he rests peacefully now.
“Please respect out 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 expressed how life was “so good” for him in January after winning the Sony Open.
“I wouldn’t trade anything,” he said at the time. “I have a beautiful fiancée. I have beautiful parents. I have beautiful nephews, siblings.
“Everyone in my life right now who is close to me who has been through the struggles with me, it’s all a team effort. I’m not sitting here — I am sitting here alone, but all of them are part of this.”
