PGA TOUR COUNTDOWN™
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PGA TOUR COUNTDOWN™
Remembering Grayson Murray: Mental Health in Golf and Davis Riley's Victory at the Charles Schwab Challenge
As we gather around the microphone this week, our hearts are heavy with the loss of Grayson Murray, a figure whose battle with personal demons resonated with so many of us, both inside and outside the ropes. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan joins us to shed light on how Murray's candidness has left an indelible mark on the sport, propelling a much-needed conversation about mental health in professional golf. We take a moment to honor the legacy of a player who was much more than his scores on the leaderboard, discussing the emotional toll on his peers, including Scotty Scheffler, and the collective grief that swept through the Charles Schwab Challenge.
This is PGA TOUR COUNTDOWN, and welcome everyone to PGA TOUR COUNTDOWN From the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, texas, that colonial country club where it's just been a tough week. I mean, what do we need to do? The PGA Championship we have an unfortunate death. The Charles Schwab Challenge we have a terribly unfortunate situation with the death of Grayson Murray Very, very, very sad situation and, not to stay too somber, we should celebrate the goodness in his life, all of his fellow players and friends, fans everybody's just been reaching out all week and it's been pretty gut-wrenching talking to folks and dealing with the loss. So what I want to do is play you an interview that we had with Jay Monahan in regard to this situation that we have with the loss of Grayson Murray. So let's get right to it and let's hear from Jay Monahan, the commissioner of the PGA Tour.
Speaker 2:Jay, when did you first learn?
Speaker 4:about his passing. I heard about it shortly after 11 o'clock this morning, Eastern correct.
Speaker 5:yes, Did it happen here.
Speaker 4:Excuse me, did it happen here In Fort Worth. You know I don't think I'm in a position to release or comment on any of the details until the family's spoken about it, jay.
Speaker 7:In 2021, grayson had tweeted that the tour hadn't helped him enough. What subsequent conversations did you or your staff members have after that? And now, when you look back on, that, was that kind of a defining moment.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you know I, when Grayson said that, I called him right away and you know, over the last several years I spent a lot of time with him Because I wanted to understand what we could do in his estimation, in his opinion, to help everybody else out here.
Speaker 4:And you know we've made a number of advancements along those lines and you know it's become a real point of focus and emphasis we're proud of. You know the programs we have in place to support our players, to support everybody out here, and you know I'm devastated by Grayson's loss, obviously, but not but the conversations I had with him, particularly the last year with him, particularly the last year. I learned an awful lot from him and you know he was very open and transparent with me and you know, most importantly, like I think back to, he was talking about. You know how he was interested in real estate and how he had become interested in things he wasn't interested in before. He talked about just the peace he had in his life and he talked about you know, go back to that Sony Open transcript. I mean everything he talked about after he won the Sony Open he talked to a lot of people about and I found inspiration in that personally, I also found inspiration in that as a leader of this tour.
Speaker 7:Does this show you, though, that there's still a lot of work to be done moving forward in this area of helping tour players Well?
Speaker 4:I mean the question you're asking. I just want to be clear. We don't know the circumstances around Grayson's passing. My conversations with Grayson in the past in the area of mental health, we're always challenging ourselves to make certain that we're on the front edge of being able to provide the support that we can for everybody out here, and I think it's listen, these are some of the best athletes in the world. They think they're, you know, and they are in many respects, invincible and you know, I think one of the things that I think back about Grayson's openness is and I speak about courage. They taught us all a lesson on that front and that's something I'll never forget.
Speaker 3:And that's something I'll never forget, sir. You had the opportunity to know him better than a lot of us ever will. What is one thing that he taught you that's going to stick with you, and what is the legacy that he's left on this sport that you want others to always remember?
Speaker 4:I think his legacy is. I think one of the elements of his legacy is his resiliency. So you think of going back to 2017, winning the Barbasol Championship, going back and forth between the Corn Furry Tour and the PGA Tour, winning three times in the Corn Furry Tour, taking self-assessing, coming back, becoming, in his own eyes, a stronger human being, and then winning three times in the past year. I mean it just to me. You know that's a level of resiliency that is extraordinary.
Speaker 6:In those conversations over the past year, what was the feedback from him about how the tour was doing? Did he seem to indicate the tour was doing better in areas of mental health et cetera? In those conversations?
Speaker 4:You know he didn't specifically say that. We were always talking about how we could. You know when we talked, and when we talked about the subject, it was what could we be doing to get better? Or just updating him on where we were amongst many other topics that he and I talked about. He had very strong opinions and he challenged us and he challenged us, and I found that to be very helpful because you can learn a lot when people speak their truth in the way that he did.
Speaker 8:Jay what is the tour have planned for tomorrow to honor him.
Speaker 4:You know we're going to go back and convene as a team and our focus has been on his family and everybody out here and, obviously, honoring and respecting him today and then we'll get to tomorrow, as soon as we're out of here. And it's not just about tomorrow, it's about the weeks ahead, it's about the months ahead. He's a lot of people that are going to be carrying a heavy heart for a long period of time out in the PGA Tour and there's a family that is obviously devastated that we need to support.
Speaker 2:All right, thank you, Jay.
Speaker 4:Thanks, Jay.
Speaker 1:So there you have Jay's comments and we're going to move on to a couple of other players' comments. Of course we know how tough it was for Scotty Scheffler on Sunday going against his friend Davis Riley and just didn't have his best stuff. So we'll hear from Scotty Scheffler, probably let you hear a little bit from Webb Simpson, who knew Grayson very well, and then we're going to hear from Davis, of course, his Sunday Winners Press Conference. So let's get right to it and up next Webb Simpson.
Speaker 5:Webb, I know you just got to the golf course and heard the horrible news about Grayson Murray. I know you knew him a little bit. I just wanted to get your thoughts and reaction to the news you heard.
Speaker 9:Yeah, grayson and I we have a long history. Ted Kegel, a dear friend. He taught me the game, he taught Grayson the game. I think I first met Grayson at my home club when Grayson was probably eight years old, maybe nine, and he was the first winner of the Webb Simpson Challenge Junior Tournament that I've had for 14 years. And so you know, when you hear news like that over the phone, you don't think it's real at first and you know you hear the emotion coming from our swing coach and then you realize it's real, our swing coach and then you realize it's real. But I know that you know his mom was with him during the Wells Fargo Championship and I think you know they were hanging out together and I love those two days we got together. So I'm super, super thankful for, you know, getting some good time with him before you know the bad news of today.
Speaker 5:When you spent time with Grayson, what were some of the times you had with him, some of the memories you had with him, what you guys kind of talked about, especially recently as he was working on, you know, getting his life where he thought it was.
Speaker 9:Yeah, you know, life's not easy and I think Grayson would put his hand up first and say it's not easy. But Grayson put great people around him. His fiancee, christiana, seems like a great woman. I think they were really excited about getting married.
Speaker 9:I actually had a meal with them during the Pebble Pebble beach tournament and you know, I think you know he has really explored his faith over the years and it seemed like the last six months to eight months he had really started committing his life to Christ and, and you know, trying to honor Christ with his life. And it definitely seemed like there was more of a lightness to him in a good way, over these past few months when I would see him and he's a great, obviously he was a great player and I just kind of I told him at Wells Fargo I'm like man, like no problem, you're on your way to top 50 in the world, you know playing like this, and so I know his parents somewhat well and I know I can't imagine what they're going through right now. But, yeah, thankful to know him.
Speaker 8:Webb Jay said in his statement that Grayson would not have wanted this tournament to be canceled today or tomorrow. Is that kind of the Grayson that you know, that you want?
Speaker 9:to cancel. Yeah, I mean, he was a competitor and a great player. So I'm sure if he could have his say he would tell everybody to keep playing.
Speaker 8:Thanks, bud. Have you had a chance to talk to his family or anybody?
Speaker 9:No, I found out literally 10 minutes before I teed off.
Speaker 5:And Jay said he's on his way down here. Okay, yeah.
Speaker 9:Perfect yeah.
Speaker 5:Thanks brother.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's move on to Scotty Scheffler, and then we're going to go straight into Davis Riley's Sunday winter presser, and then some closing thoughts for you. Here we go, let's just do this.
Speaker 3:Thank you here with world number one Scottie Scheffler. Well, scottie, I know this wasn't the way you hoped things would end today, but how would you assess your round today and the tournament overall?
Speaker 10:Yeah, tournament overall I felt like I had that tough first round but I battled back very nicely on Friday and Saturday. As far as today goes, you know I just wasn't able to put as much pressure as I would have hoped to put on Davis early in the round and you know he just kind of cruised all day, played great, great golf.
Speaker 3:You know he made that bogey on two but answered it really quick with the birdie on four and I mean didn't really give us much of an opening today and just continue to cruise and play great golf.
Speaker 10:So I mean number one I hit it right on my line. It ran through the fairway. Number three I hit it right on my line, went through the fairway. Number five hit a good shot, just kind of overrode the wind. Six was a fairway. Seven, I just pulled a little bit and then nine was a fairway. So yeah, I didn't feel like I really drove at that portal. I think the fairways were just pretty challenging to hit out there with how firm it was and windy. You know it's tough to keep the ball in play around here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, just how tough were the conditions out here. And we haven't gotten your thoughts yet on the change of this golf course and your thoughts on the renovation.
Speaker 10:Yeah, I mean the golf course was playing really, really firm today. You know, like I said, like number one, the fairway is not, it's not super wide and with how windy it was, you know, davis, I felt like his ball was no more than 10 yards right of my ball and his ball's in the rough and I hit it right down my line and my ball's also in the rough, you know, maybe eight yards left where he hit it off the first hole, and so it's challenging. You know, we'll see how it plays the next couple years as the golf course settles in. Obviously, when the grass is new it's crazy firm and so we'll see if they're able to keep this firm for years to come. But overall I think the golf course just needs a little bit more time to settle in until we can really judge.
Speaker 10:You know, kind of how the renovations are, but overall I was pleased that they didn't remove too many of the trees and, you know, eliminate some of the character from the golf course. I think a lot of the character of the course is still intact and so you know, we'll see in the next couple of years as the greens kind of settle in, you know they're, I think they're a bit moundy this week. That's. That's pretty. You know, it's pretty normal for new greens as you kind of get before they settle in the ball tends to do weird things and they can be a bit moundy.
Speaker 3:But overall, I think for the first year it was a it was a really good test well, hey, you were knocking on the door with that putter a few times today, so how nice was it to finally sink that one on 17 yeah, it was good.
Speaker 10:you, you know I horse-shooted the one there on gosh, what was it on 16. You know I hit a good putt there and then you know I was almost kind of laughing because it looked like it was going to stop short on the edge there on 17,. But was fortunate to see that one go in. But overall, just you know, proud of the fight this week and obviously it was a pretty difficult day to come out to the golf course with Spent that moment of silence today, really just thinking about him and praying for his family and his fiancée. Obviously it was pretty difficult to come play golf but, like his parents said, he would have wanted the tournament to continue. I got to know him fairly well over the last few months. I shared a couple meals with him, played a couple practice rounds. I was with him for a few hours. He was at our rental house last week. It's a tough day for all of us out here on tour and we're thinking about his family and we're praying hard for them for sure.
Speaker 3:They're certainly in our prayers, scotty, thanks so much for the time. We'll see you at the memorial.
Speaker 10:Thanks, appreciate it.
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Speaker 2:Okay, we'd like to welcome Davis Riley into the interview room, our 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge winner. Davis, congratulations, what a show you put on this week. If we can get your thoughts on winning for the second time on the PGA Tour and the first time by yourself.
Speaker 11:For sure. No, it's super special to get my second win and obviously, being so close to where I live now here in Dallas, fort Worth area, super special. Having countless number of friends and family and obviously winning at such a prestigious event like the Charles Schwab Challenge is truly an honor and I'm stoked.
Speaker 2:And you move into both of the remaining signature events. You move up to number 55 in the FedEx Cup standings. Just talk a little bit about how much this changes the rest of your season.
Speaker 11:Yeah, like you said, I've been kind of looking to try to get some momentum this year. It's been a slower start to the year than I've been wanting and obviously this helps a lot, catapulting me in the right direction. And, like you said, being in the field for the remaining two signature events will be huge and hopefully I'm looking forward to those as good opportunities to make a push towards the tour championship. And yeah, I'm over the moon and excited for the rest of the season.
Speaker 2:And then your thoughts also on winning at this club, colonial Country Club, one of our best on the tour, with the deep tradition. Just talk a little bit about what that means to you.
Speaker 11:For sure. Obviously, you see the name winners here are incredible guys, people that I've looked up to my whole life and watched them winning this tournament when I was growing up. And yeah, you see that plaque out there right beside 1T, seeing all the crazy you know unreal golfers Justin Rose, adam Scott, you know Spieth unreal golfers and just to you know, etch, my name, along with those people, is pretty special and it'll be pretty cool to see my name there.
Speaker 6:All right, we'll start with questions, Kevin over here, davis, to your left, hi, congrats. Thank you. I have two questions. First one's real quick what club are you playing out of right now in Dallas? I'm playing out at Merido Golf Club in Addison Texas, sure, texas, sure, yeah, okay, the second one is how did the neuro hacks work this week?
Speaker 11:Yeah, the neuro hacks, yeah my swing coach, jeff Smith, we've been doing a lot of work. I feel like physically I've had it going for a little bit and I feel like kind of just staying in my own lane and kind of controlling what's going on upstairs has been a huge help and, I think, a big reason why I was able to get in contention and win this week. But yeah, the neurohacks to kind of when there's it feels like there's some turbulence going on in the round, those certainly help and yeah, that's been a good addition for me and my team.
Speaker 6:Your coach said that those were working. They were on full display yesterday especially. And I just wonder, when you look back at all four rounds, how important was that round three?
Speaker 11:Oh, 100%. Round three was yeah, it was amazing. I mean, I got off to that really hot start and then that last hour and a half two hours on the golf course the wind picked up, it was gusty, having to back off shots, three footers felt a lot harder than they should be. Um, so, yeah, I the fight through that final nine holes and you know, obviously to snag a birdie on 16 coming in. I don't remember what it was. I either finished even or one over on my last 10 holes and it was certainly a grind and uh, you know to shoot a, whatever it was. A four under round yesterday was huge all right, steven on the left.
Speaker 8:Yeah, davis, can you just talk about, obviously, number two? You had the bogey and you know, and you're playing with um shuffler who obviously wants to put pressure on, but what did it say for you to get the birdie at four and just, did you feel much pressure today or did you feel like you kind of had things under control?
Speaker 11:yeah. Yeah, it was certainly nice to start out with a cushion of, I believe, yeah, four shots, but, like you said, you got the number one player in the world breathing down your neck. Not really any shot. Lead is too comfortable. I knew at some point today he was going to make a push and I expected that and, honestly, I tried to treat today as if we both started tied and I just tried to win the day. But, yeah, that too, and I really felt like I just stayed in my own bubble and just got really and I told my caddie before the round I just want to be, I want to get lost in the process of it. I want to just be so focused on what I'm doing, the process I'm going through, picking targets being really detail-oriented I just wanted to get lost in that. And then, you know, show oriented, I just wanted to get lost in that and then you know, show up on 16 to 17 and be right where I wanted to be.
Speaker 8:I was about to ask because we're at a certain point where you felt like okay, it's done, I just have to finish it.
Speaker 11:Yeah, I saw a leaderboard on. I believe it was 13. Yeah, I believe it was 13. Yeah, I saw the leaderboard. I saw Keegan Bradley was at nine. Scotty was at eight at the time. He had a good look for birdie on 13. So I knew I had a four or five shot lead at the time. But yeah, with the wind, the way it was, the firmness of the greens, how it was picking up, I knew it was going to be a tough finish. And you know, Scotty, he was starting to hit some really good golf shots and I knew pars were good coming in okay, questions.
Speaker 6:Yep, let's go back to Kevin your coach at Alabama texted me and one of the lines that he used, beyond being very proud and roll tide, was that he said something like you've been through a lot lately and that you never lost your belief. Can you elaborate on what he might've meant?
Speaker 11:For sure. Yeah, I think he's talking about recently. You know, honestly, the last six months I've kind of I've struggled, I'll be honest. I've struggled with like just the golf part my life's great. I've kind of I've struggled, I'll be honest. I've struggled with like just the golf part. My life's great. I've got an amazing wife, an amazing team who pushes me to be the best I can. I'm very fortunate for them.
Speaker 11:But, yeah, just golf has been extremely hard. I feel like I'm doing all the as of recently, I feel like I'd been doing all the right things, putting in the hard work. And that's how it is. Hard work is just hard work sometimes and you're just waiting for that time where the fruits of the labor are there and you get in contention and have a chance to win. So, yeah, golf had just I was in a pretty low spot, you know, the start of the season into last year a little bit and yeah, and I'm just proud of the way that my team put all their energy and effort into me and I feel like I put some good work in and I'm just super grateful for the people around me to push me through that hard time All right, let's go to Phil over on the left, there was, oh sorry, Talk about the differences between the old course and this new renovated course and anything in particular that struck you as being totally different than before.
Speaker 11:Yeah, for sure it was definitely a learning curve Monday, tuesday and Wednesday. A lot of changes on and around the greens. The green complex has changed quite a bit. Chipping around it was just a little different there and obviously with the part all the par threes changed. So getting your sight lines, kind of finding out where the center of the green was, was certainly a learning curve early. But yeah, most of the changes are done on and around the greens and with the exception of, you know, a couple par threes and one or two move back tee boxes. So yeah, certainly put a lot of work in Monday, tuesday and Wednesday on and around the greens.
Speaker 2:All right, Jeff in the middle.
Speaker 5:Hey Davis, I saw that Nick Hardy in the back here. I saw that Nick Hardy was out there to see you.
Speaker 11:What is that like, having him out there and talk about your guys's friendship? For sure we've got a special friendship and obviously having our maiden pga tour win together was certainly special. And nick is somebody who I've known throughout my entire golf career and he's just he's one. He's one of my best friends out here and we actually played the first two days together um this week um. So there's definitely a level of comfort there and you know probably a big reason why I got off to a good start because there was definitely a level of comfort there and we just love spending time with each other and it meant the world for me to have him hang around and congratulate me and it just shows how special of a dude he is.
Speaker 2:Okay, any other questions? Well, before we go, I have to ask you about the car. How do you plan on using that? What else about having that in your garage?
Speaker 11:Yeah, that'll be a cool one to drive around. It was funny. I got in there All the stuff, the keys and, you know, the speedometer and all that. That was a little before my time, so I'll probably have to get in there and try to learn some of the how to learn my way around it. But no, that's super special of Charles Schwab to put that together for us and be along with this amazing trophy and jacket. I'm certainly looking forward to driving that thing around.
Speaker 2:All right, let's go to Haley. Right back here.
Speaker 1:You shared down at the trophy ceremony a little bit not having your parents down there because they were kind of with your sister, just kind of what was going on with your sister this past week.
Speaker 11:Yeah, for sure. Like you said, unfortunately they weren't able to be here. Yeah, my sister it was kind of a crazy turn of events she was at work one day, had a seizure. I got a call, I was actually out practicing and you know, whenever somebody close to you is suffering or you hear something like that, you kind of hit the panic button and then, yeah, it escalated to her getting CT scans, a lot of blood work, and they found a brain tumor on her brain and so less than 24 hours from the seizure she got pulled in for surgery. And yeah, when you have somebody that close to you, you know all the worst case scenarios are going through your head and it was certainly a scary feeling thinking about how you could lose your sister, but thankfully she was.
Speaker 11:My parents were up there, she was around some amazing doctors and they took good care of her. And we actually got some great news early this week. They had a successful surgery, removed the brain tumor, sent it off for a pathology report and it came back non-cancerous, which was amazing big sigh of relief. And you know, obviously, hearing that news last week, I didn't even know if I was going to be able to play this week and, honestly, was a little beside myself. For most of the week last week I didn't even know if I was going to be able to play this week and, honestly, was a little beside myself for most of the week last week. But my parents told me that my sister would want me to go out there and play and compete and do what I love, and that meant the world to me and I'm just very you know, I'm very fortunate and excited that she was in really good hands and everything is in the right direction.
Speaker 11:And her name Davis Caroline. Okay, Caroline, she is 28. All right, all good. She is one year older than me, yeah.
Speaker 2:All right, I think that does it Davis. Congratulations once again 2024 Charles Schwab.
Speaker 1:Challenge winner, thank you. So there you have it, everybody. Congratulations to Davis Riley on a great performance. I mean just a solid performance. Got a little shaky at the start, but he steadied the ship and rode that puppy on to victory. Congratulations, davis. You deserve it, you and your family. Our thoughts, prayers, go out to Grace and Murray's family and loved ones. It's just devastating. I will share with you that my best friend in life grew up with him. We were best friends. He was just a year ahead of me. I went on to become a doctor. I lost him to suicide not too many years ago and had no idea, had no idea what was going on. It just it was an awful, awful thing. So hug somebody, kiss somebody, tell them you love them and make somebody's day, say hello and be kind to everybody out there. Folks For the PGA Tour Countdown team, I'm Frank Bassett. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 2:Thank you.