By Miguel Mike Medina
Photo: Reuters/Golf Australia
Sony Open in Hawaii Round One begins tonight at 7 pm. The tournament event will honor last year’s Sony Open champion, Grayson Murray, who sadly passed away on May 25, 2024, due to unfortunate suicide. Grayson was 30 years old.
His parents, Terry and Eric Murray, are in Hawaii to see their son get honored. The Murrays joined Golf Channel for an interview, and they still feel their son’s spirit at the Sony Open.
Murray hopes that through the Grayson Murray Foundation, people will learn about the type of people Grayson was and what he cared about.
“We hope that through the foundation, people will better understand what Grayson was going through,” Eric Murray said. “We want them to remember Grayson as kind and generous. Throughout his struggles, he had a side about him that was really caring for people and animals. We want people to understand that Grayson was very passionate about almost everything he did, and this has been a bittersweet moment for us to come out to Hawaii.”
The foundation is to raise awareness of mental health and addiction challenges that a person goes through. One of the messages is to be “kind to one another.”
“First of all, we hope that people will not treat it as – “it’s okay not to be okay” and Grayson would say numerous times in interviews,” Terry said. “A lot of times Grayson would not be able to get out his bed at times whenever he was at home. I might even think in my mind, you know, “It’s a beautiful day, Grayson; why aren’t you practicing Golf?” But through all of this, I have come to learn that people who suffer from depression actually cannot do some things that you would think they should be doing.”
Grayson’s parents are showing tremendous strength and courage to be in Hawaii this weekend. You never know who you may need at any given moment. Some people are looking for a smile, words of wisdom, or anything to change their mood and uplift their spirits.
The Murrays are determined to help more people who are battling depression and mental health issues.
Miguel Mike Medina is the publisher of The MMM Journal. He can be reached at medinamiguelmike@gmail.com and themmmjournal@gmail.com
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