The 30-year-old won the 2024 Sony Open in Hawaii at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu at 17 under after a three-way playoff against Ben An and Keegan Bradley on Sunday. The win is the second of his PGA Tour career and his first since the 2017 Barbasol Championship.
For his efforts, Murray will take home the top prize of $1.49 million. An and Bradley each earned $738,700. Russell Henley and Carl Yuan, who finished T-4 at 16 under and one shot outside the playoff, will bank $373,500,
With $8.3 million up for grabs, check out how much money each PGA Tour player earned this week at the 2024 Sony Open in Hawaii.
The win is the second of Murray’s career and first since 2017.
HONOLULU – On the first hole of a three-man playoff at the Sony Open in Hawaii, Grayson Murray faced a 40-foot birdie putt. Both of his competitors – Byeong Hun (Ben) An and Keegan Bradley – were well inside him, with An 4 feet from possibly his first win. Murray figured one if not both of them would make their birdie putts, so he knew he had to give his putt a chance. Did he ever.
His left-to-right breaking putt straightened out as it neared the hole and disappeared, center cut. When neither An nor Bradley converted their birdie putts, Murray was a champion again on the PGA Tour for the first time in six years, five months and 22 days.
“I kept telling Jay, (his caddie), we’re hitting good putts, we’re hitting them right where we want, and we’re going to have one drop today, and it’s going to be big… and it might be for the win.”
Murray closed in 3-under 67 on Sunday at Waialae Country Club, including a clutch birdie at 18 in regulation to force his way into the playoff with a 72-hole total of 17-under 263.
That he returned to the winner’s circle in Hawaii of all places is fitting as it was site of one of his lowest points. Three years ago during this tournament, Murray was involved in an incident at a hotel bar where many of the players stayed, and the Tour placed him on probation.
“Why was I drunk?” he posted on social media. “Because I’m an alcoholic that hates everything to do with the PGA Tour life and that’s my scapegoat.”
Nevertheless, Murray showed great promise on the course, winning the 2017 Barbasol Championship despite drinking during tournament week and admitting on Sunday that he played three days hungover when he won.
“Best thing and worst thing that ever happened to me was winning my rookie year,” he said. “I think the alcohol brought a side out of me that wasn’t me. It was kind of the monster in me in a way.”
But the early success proved to be short-lived. He struggled to make cuts and conceded he was jealous of the players he grew up competing against, who were having greater success. Along the way, he had a Twitter spat with a fellow player, suffered a scooter accident in 2022 in Bermuda, and threatened to quit on multiple occasions. Murray also dealt with anxiety and depression, and said there were days he didn’t want to get out of bed.
Grayson Murray celebrates with Akshay Bhatia after winning the 2024 Sony Open in Hawaii at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii. (Photo: Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
“I just thought I was a failure,” he said. “I thought I had a lot of talent that was just a waste of talent.”
Murray eventually entered rehab and said he’s been sober for eight months.
“It was by choice,” he said. “It was time.”
He regained exempt status on the PGA Tour this season after winning twice on the Korn Ferry Tour last year and set out to treat his return to the big leagues as a new beginning.
“I said, ‘Hey, look, I have an opportunity here,'” Murray recounted. “Probably haven’t reached my prime yet. I can get on a good solid 10-year run, and that’s what I plan on doing. I’m in such a good spot right now where I don’t want to change anything I’m doing.”
His caddie, Jay Green, called the change in Murray “night and day,” and added, “What I knew of him was off Twitter and his off-course issues. He’s got a lot of support now and he’s living a disciplined life.”
Murray is engaged to be married on April 27, and his fiancée, Christiana, walked the final holes and the playoff with fellow pro Tom Hoge’s father. Murray met her three years ago at the American Express, the week after his incident during the Sony Open.
Grayson Murray and fiancee Christiana pose with the trophy winning the 2024 Sony Open in Hawaii at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii. (Photo: Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
“I can’t wait to do life with you,” she said when asked what she wanted to say to Murray after the win. “That’s going to be our wedding song.”
Murray shot 64 in the third round to share the 54-hole lead with Bradley. Before the final round, Josh Gregory, his short-game coach, tried to downplay the task at hand, saying playing well might do something for his golf career but it wouldn’t change his life. “I just used that mentality,” Murray said.
He stayed patient, making eight straight pars to start the final round before birdies at Nos. 9 and 10. With the final group on the 14th hole, there were five players tied for the lead at 16 under. At 18, Murray flighted a wedge from 78 yards inside three feet to match Bradley’s 67 and tied An (64), who two-putted for birdie ahead of him to get to 17 under.
The tee shot at the dog-leg left 18th, the first playoff hole, doesn’t set up well for Murray, a fader, especially with the wind off the left. He tugged it off the tee in the playoff, clipping a palm frond and had no choice but to lay up. He wedged 40 feet left of the hole. During regulation, his caddie watched Sam Stevens leave a putt on the same line short. Murray made sure he didn’t make the same mistake and broke into lusty fist pumps when he canned the putt.
“I love making big-time putts in big-time moments,” he said. “I’m never going to back down from a celebration.”
Bradley had made a clutch 20-foot birdie putt at 15 to assume the lead but played the par-5 18th in two pars.
“This is one of the hardest losses I’ve ever had in my career, if not the hardest,” said Bradley, who missed to the left on his 17-foot birdie putt to extend the playoff. “I played good enough to win. But sometimes it’s just not quite good enough, and that was one of these weeks.”
An shoved his 4-foot putt that would have forced another hole with Murray to the right and it didn’t even touch the cup.
“It’s a shame it ended that way,” An said. “It hurts, but what are you going to do.”
Murray is proud that he’s winning the battle with his demons and his watery eyes were one indication of how rewarding it was to see his hard work paying off.
“It’s not easy, you know. I want 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 said. “Just persevere, and when you get tired of fighting let someone else fight for you.”
That final line was a reference to something Murray believed was said by former North Carolina State men’s basketball coach Jim Valvano but actually is credited to ESPN’s Stuart Scott, who died of cancer in 2015. Regardless, Murray said those word had lifted him up and helped him write this next chapter of his redemption story.
“My story is not finished,” Murray said. “I think it’s just beginning. I hope I can inspire a lot of people going forward that have their own issues.”
Yuan’s lost a ball after a wayward shot on the 18th hole which led to a controversial ruling on Sunday.
Carl Yuan was bailed out with a wild ruling on Sunday in the final round of the 2024 Sony Open in Hawaii.
On the 18th hole, a 550-yard par 5, Yuan was in a five-way tie for the lead at 16 under and found a fairway bunker off the tee. His second shot was wayward to the right and was bound for a hospitality tent down the right side of the fairway. Yuan’s ball wasn’t found, but a PGA Tour rules official granted the 26-year-old a free drop in the short grass two club lengths from the hospitality stand, which was ruled as a Temporary Immovable Obstruction (TIO). Yuan was unable to take advantage of the break and made par to take the clubhouse lead at 16 under.
“Virtual certainty” it went into the hospitality tent. But they never found the ball…🤔🤔🤔 pic.twitter.com/FjqFPHLznK
Shortly after the incident, Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis reported on the broadcast that a rules official said there was “virtual certainty” from video evidence and fans in the stand that the ball was lost in the tent.
According to the USGA and R&A, if a player’s ball is not found but is known or virtually certain to have come to rest in a TIO, “the player may take relief by using the estimated point where the ball last crossed the edge of the TIO on the course as the spot of the ball for purposes of finding the nearest point of complete relief.”
The video shows a white ball flying near the white tent before it disappears. The question is, if the ball wasn’t found, how could the rules officials or fans know with any certainty it was lost in the tent? Hospitality tents aren’t exactly quiet, so if fans heard the ball hit the tent, how do they know it didn’t ricochet out of play since it was never found?
The ruling was an odd one, and while it didn’t wind up impacting the winner of the tournament, the Tour may have some explaining to do.
Webb Simpson, as always, offered his perspective on the world of golf.
HONOLULU — On the morning of June 6, a day that will forever live in infamy on the PGA Tour, Webb Simpson was in Toronto at an RBC outing when a couple of the Tour’s independent directors phoned to let him know about the framework agreement that was about to be announced by Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Yasir Al-Rumayyan of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
“I said, ‘I’m so confused, I have so many questions but I have to go because I’m doing a clinic,'” Simpson recalled on Friday after shooting even-par 70 at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
It’s fair to say that Simpson is still a little bit confused on how the pending deal is going to shake out despite being one of the six player directors serving on the Tour’s board of directors. But Simpson, a seven-time winner during his career, including the 2012 U.S. Open, is always thoughtful when answering questions and generous with his time and proved to be the most willing player director of late to speak candidly on the record.
In a wide-ranging conversation, Simpson touched on greed in golf, why legacy should still matter and his concern that more sponsors could take their money and run to other sponsorship opportunities. [This conversation has been edited for clarity.]
Here’s what you need to know from the third round.
HONOLULU — Keegan Bradley had one of those days every golfer dreams of —the type where everything falls into place.
“Today was one of those days where just like I had great numbers. I could see every shot,” he said. “I just had a blast out there with Scotty (Vail), my caddie. We just did a great job together.”
Bradley made eight birdies en route to shooting 7-under 63 at Wailae Country Club to share the 54-hole in the Sony Open in Hawaii with Grayson Murray at 14-under 196.
For Bradley, it all began when he struck a perfect drive, a perfect 6-iron and rolled in the birdie putt.
“I just felt calm all day, which isn’t normal for me,” said Bradley, an understatement from one of the most fidgety golfers in the game.
Bradley said he has always enjoyed playing this tournament and thought it was a course where he could win despite the fact he has never recorded a top-10 finish in 11 previous appearances. He blamed a balky putter in the past for his less-than-stellar record. But this week, he has gained more than two strokes on the greens in the first and third rounds and ranks T-11 for the week. After struggling on the greens when the governing bodies banned his trusty belly putter, Bradley’s putter has become a weapon again.
“I never knew if I’d get back to a level where I was with the belly putter,” he said. “At this point, I feel like I’ve surpassed it. It took a lot of hard work and a lot of dark days.”
He made a clutch sandy at 16 and then stuffed a 6 iron inside 7 feet at the par-3 17th and made the putt.
“Just a perfect cut 6 iron into the wind,” he said.
Bradley knows he likely won’t be able to count on hitting so many perfect shots in the final round, but he’s embracing the chance to earn his seventh career PGA Tour title.
“I’ve been here before and I’ve never felt more confident being in this position,” said Bradley, who has converted a 54-hole lead or co-lead into victory just once in five previous occasions in his career. “I now look forward to days like tomorrow.”
HONOLULU — Winning the Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation in Nashville was a weight off Grayson Murray’s back, as it clinched his ticket back to the PGA Tour.
Just don’t ask him to hold the trophy for his triumph there in September.
During his post-round press conference at the Sony Open in Hawaii, where he’s the 54-hole co-leader after shooting 6-under 64 on Saturday, he noted, “I had a little back issue there for about a month or so that I didn’t touch a club.”
That begged the question: how exactly did he injure his back?
“I actually got hurt holding the trophy,” he later said. “I have a herniated bulging disc. It’s fine, I got two shots, and it helped, just taking Aleve now. It’s something to monitor.”
Murray has slimmed down since becoming sober eight months ago, but he’s still no shrinking violet. So about the trophy, a guitar with a strap, which just happens to be one of the coolest in golf …”It was 45 pounds, and I was holding it for like an hour for pictures and stuff,” he said.
Murray has one PGA Tour title to his credit, the 2017 Barbasol Championship. If he wins the Sony Open on Sunday, perhaps he should consider having his caddie hold the trophy for him.
Former Vol David Skinns’ second-round Sony Open in Hawaii results.
The Sony Open in Hawaii is taking place Thursday-Sunday at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Former Vol David Skins is part of the field. He qualified after being ranked 2-30 on the prior season’s Korn Ferry Tour points list.
Skinns finished the second-round +1 (70). He did not make the cut. Carl Yuan, Austin Eckroat and Byeong Hun An (-9) are leading the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Below is how to watch each round of the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Thursday: 7-10:30 p.m. EST (Golf Channel)
Friday: 7-10:30 p.m. EST (Golf Channel)
Saturday: 7-10:30 p.m. EST (Golf Channel)
Sunday: 4-6 p.m. EST (NBC), 6-8 p.m. EST (Golf Channel)
Here are the notables who missed the cut at the Sony Open.
HONOLULU — The PGA Tour season’s first full-field tournament also means its first 36-hole cut of the year, and it was a doozy.
All the same feels coming down the stretch on Friday with Joel Dahmen holding the weekend fate of 17 golfers who needed him to miss a 5-foot birdie putt at No. 9 or else they were all going home. He burned the right edge, saying afterward, “I hit a good putt. They should all give me money.”
Or maybe at least buy him a drink. It took a 36-hole aggregate of 2-under 138 at Waialae Country Club to make the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, the 2022 champ here, made birdie at his final two holes to make the weekend while Lanto Griffin made birdie at his last to join him. In all, 82 players have a weekend tee time, the most of any 36-hole cut on Tour since the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic (84). Just seven strokes separate first and worst.
Thank you @Joel_Dahmen. Par on the last hole to keep the cut at -2… I owe you beers next time I see you. I take back every bad thing I said about you 😂
Here’s what you need to know from the second round.
Carl Yuan shouldn’t be at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
However, this PGA Tour season and golf world in general are unlike anything before it. So, he is. And he’s taking advantage.
Yuan finished last season No. 126 in the FedEx Cup standings, which meant he wasn’t supposed to be fully-exempt on Tour in 2024. He wasn’t going to get in with his limited status to play in the Sony Open in Hawaii or have full status on the PGA Tour.
Thanks, Jon Rahm.
Yuan shot 5-under 65 on Friday in the second round, moving to 9-under 131 for the tournament. He’s in the field because Rahm moved to LIV Golf and was suspended, which shuffled Yuan up a spot to retain his PGA Tour card.
And in his first tournament of 2024, Yuan is taking full advantage. He’s tied for the lead heading to the weekend in Hawaii.
“Hopefully not,” Yuan said when asked whether he thinks he’ll be known as the last guy in. “Hopefully I have my score and performance will kind of cover that part. Yeah, I mean, just looking forward to another year on Tour. With all the learning experience from my rookie year, definitely feel like I’m more prepared for being out here.”
He started his day with a birdie at the first and then bogeyed the third. However, Yuan made birdie on three of his next four holes to turn 3 under and added two more on the home stretch to sign for his 65. At 9 under, Yuan is tied with Austin Eckroat and Byeong Hun An for the lead.
The 26-year-old had two top-10 finishes coming last season, both in the fall at the Sanderson Farms Championship (T-6) and the Butterfield Bermuda Championship (T-4). At the Sanderson, he finished one shot out of a playoff.
“I had a couple chances last year being the final two groups, have a shot on the weekend,” Yuan said. “Yeah, I feel like I just got to do what I did last two days: be patient and stay committed, know exactly what I’m going to do before I hit a shot and see how it turns out.”
Here are four more things to know from the second round of the 2024 Sony Open in Hawaii.
Seven years ago, Smylie Kaufman and Jordan Spieth had a rough time on a kayak in the Pacific Ocean.
Following their first round of play in the 2017 Sony Open in Hawaii, the duo took a kayak out on the water near Waialae Country Club in Honolulu to do some fishing. However, the waves had a different idea.
There’s some epic video of the two being tossed around, losing a lot of the gear and personal items they had on the kayak. Nevertheless, they were laughing the whole time and it made for incredible footage.
On Friday during the second round of the 2024 Sony Open in Hawaii, Kaufman had his chance at redemption. He got back into a kayak, with a microphone in hand on the Golf Channel during live coverage, and called golf shots on the par-3 17th, which runs next to the ocean.
