HONOLULU — In a remarkable career comeback, Grayson Murray won the 2024 Sony Open in Hawaii with a playoff putt from just inside 40 feet to defeat Byeong Hun “Ben” An and Keegan Bradley at Waialae Country Club on Sunday.
It was Murray’s second PGA Tour victory – and the first one since the Barbasol Championship in his rookie year of 2017.
The week's signature moment was his leaping fist pump after his dramatic putt.
“That putt was looking good the whole way,” Murray said. “I'm a sucker for some good celebrations. I love making big-time putts in big-time moments. I'm never going to back down from a celebration.”
With the crowd abuzz after Murray’s shot, Bradley stepped up for an 18-foot attempt to match it and missed by eight inches. Then, An, who'd chipped out of a greenside bunker to within 5 feet, had a great chance to send he and Murray right back to the tee box on 18. But the South Korean, perhaps rattled, quickly made his final read and pushed his putt wide.
Murray trailed Bradley and An by a stroke heading to No. 18. But he stuck his 78-yard approach shot within 3 feet and he birdied it to match the other two at 17 under. Meanwhile, Bradley could not convert a winning attempt from 26 feet.
An had the advantage in the playoff after Murray hit his approach to the center of the green far from the pin, and Bradley shanked his ball far left into the grandstands where it settled underneath a spectator’s chair.
Bradley got a free drop next to the grandstand structure, but after a chip and two putts, he was out of it with a par. The 2011 PGA Championship winner later called it “one of the hardest losses I’ve ever had in my career, if not the hardest.”
Of the shot that landed in the stands, Bradley said, “I was just trying to hit a cut hybrid in there, and it didn’t cut. I double-crossed it. Everyone was okay, thank goodness, but I was actually in a decent spot. … It’s just a tough putt around there, just very flat where that hole is, and I was having trouble reading it, both those putts.”
Murray, a 30-year-old from Raleigh, N.C., has spoken openly about his battles with alcoholism that made him something of a pariah on Tour.
Murray said he has been sober for eight months after several years of self-destructive and what he called "arrogant" behavior that included drinking during tournament weeks and playing hung over. He said his parents were instrumental in helping him give up the drink; his journey to sobriety included a stint in rehab and a reinvestment in his faith.
His fiancée accompanied him at the winner’s green celebration as he was presented with the trophy and a ceremony check for $1.49 million.
“I think a lot of things are going right in my life right now and I'm at peace,” Murray said. “I was at peace with the 40-footer in the playoff. I expected Ben to make it. This game is crazy.”
Said a disappointed An, who was going for his first win, “Just a poor putt and poor read at the end which could have happened on any holes during 73 holes. It's a shame it ended that way. It hurts, but what are you going to do?”
Murray’s only previous appearance at the Sony Open was in 2021, and he missed the cut.
It was the second playoff victory in three years at Sony after Hideki Matsuyama defeated Russell Henley in an extra hole in 2022.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.