HONOLULU — The winner of last week’s Sentry on Maui, Chris Kirk, has been open about his past struggle with alcoholism that nearly cost him his golf career.
One of Kirk’s playing partners on Saturday, Grayson Murray, knows that battle well.
Murray, a 30-year-old from Raleigh, N.C., with one Tour win to his name, shot to the top of the leaderboard through three rounds of the Sony Open in Hawaii with a bogey-free 6-under 64 at Waialae Country Club. In a post-round interview, he mentioned, unbidden, his own difficulties with the drink.
“Chris is an inspiration. You know, I think he's been pretty vocal about his story as well,” Murray said. “You can see the success after he got sober, how quickly he had success out here on Tour, became the player that he was before and (now) even better.”
Murray said Saturday that he has been eight months sober. He referenced a scooter accident in Bermuda last year as “really a low point in my life.” He had a head-on collision and was knocked unconscious.
Right now, he feels like a new man.
“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, is one of my biggest cheerleaders. It just makes everything so easy when I get out here inside the ropes when everyone is just in my circle just really pulling for me.”
Murray capped off Saturday’s round with a chip out of a greenside bunker within five feet and he converted it to tie Keegan Bradley for the 54-hole lead at 14 under.
Murray is trying to make Sony his first win since the Barbasol Championship in 2017, his rookie year.
“I was young and thought I was invincible,” he said of that year. “Wasn't doing the correct stuff off the course to really give myself the best chance to succeed out here.”
He still has his tough days, he says, but now knows he has people to lean on at those times.
The leaderboard was crowded at midday Sunday. Kirk fell back, but as many as five other golfers had a share of the lead at once, including Murray.
Kirk stepped away from the game in 2019 due to alcoholism and now has multiple PGA wins since getting sober.
“It's a great mix of players here this week,” Kirk said after shooting a 67 to go with a pair of 66s over the first two days. “Strong field, so a lot of veterans and guys with a bunch of wins, and then a lot of people that maybe have been on Tour for a while and haven't won and then you have the rookie class coming up.”
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.