crash tourist trophy

Isle of Man TT: Northern Irish rider Davy Morgan dies in third fatal crash at this year's races

The races around the island off the north-west coast of England have been run since 1907 and rank among the most dangerous in motorsport, with 259 fatalities in various events to date.

News reporter @Amarjournalist_

Tuesday 7 June 2022 12:16, UK

A third driver has died at the 2022 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy race.

The annual motorcycle racing event returned for the first time since the COVID pandemic, but has been marred by the deaths of solo rider Mark Purslow last week and Davy Morgan on Monday.

Organisers originally named the third person killed in this year's festival as passenger 35-year-old Olivier Lavorel.

However, four days later they issued a statement announcing that they had wrong identified the competitor, adding that Lavorel's teammate Cesar Chanal had died in a crash and that Lavorel was airlifted to hospital in Liverpool in a critical condition.

Monday's Supersport race was red-flagged after a crash on the final lap and the Superstock race was postponed.

Organisers have confirmed that 52-year-old Northern Irish racer Morgan died in the accident.

He was a veteran of the TT racing circuit and made his 80th start on Monday.

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A statement from organisers said: "It is with a heavy heart that the Isle of Man TT Races can confirm that Davy Morgan, 52, from Saintfield, Northern Ireland, was killed in an incident on the third and final lap of the first Supersport Race of the 2022 Isle of Man TT Races.

"The accident occurred at the 27th Milestone on the mountain section of the course.

"Davy was a highly experienced TT competitor, having contested every TT since his debut in the 2002 Production 600 Race, and today's Supersport Race was his 80th TT start.

"Davy's TT career included a 7th-place finish in the 2006 Senior TT and a career-best 5th-place finish in the 2008 Lightweight TT.

"Davy had recorded 49 finishes which included 25 top-twenty results, and his previous performances had earned him 14 Silver Replicas and 30 Bronze Replicas.

"His best lap around the TT Mountain Course was at an average speed of 125.134mph which he set in the 2010 Senior TT.

"The Isle of Man TT Races pass on their deepest sympathy to Davy's partner Trudy, his family, loved ones, and friends."

Since racing started in this year's event in May, Morgan was the third person to die following a crash.

British Supersport rider Purslow, 29, suffered a fatal accident in TT qualifying on Wednesday.

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2024 ISLE OF MAN TT RACES

27th May – 8th June

Isle of Man TT Races

27th may - 8th june 2024.

Explore the schedule for the 2024 Isle of Man TT Races.

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Ryan and Callum Crowe claimed their first win at the Isle of Man TT Races with victory in 3wheeling.media Sidecar TT Race 1

Michael Dunlop made history at TT 2024 when he won the Monster Energy Supersport TT Race 1.

In the final qualifying session of TT 2024 it was Josh Brookes who was quickest in the Superstock class with a lap of 131.447mph.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Arai at the TT a selection of both TT riders past and current will participate in a special Parade Lap.

Peter Hickman set the fastest lap of the week on his Superstock machine in the final full day of qualifying.

Davey Todd unofficially sets his fastest lap ever of the Mountain Course as he challenges Peter Hickman for the top spot of the Superbike leaderboard.

Davey Todd was the man on the move during Wednesday evening’s qualifying session topping both the Superbike and Superstock leaderboards.

Channing Tatum’s Free Association, Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, Entertainment 360, and Box To Box Films to produce new TT docuseries and

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The New York Times

Sports | take a lap in the world’s most dangerous race, take a lap in the world’s most dangerous race.

By ANDREW KEH JUNE 7, 2017

DOUGLAS, Isle of Man

D avey Lambert, a 48-year-old man from Gateshead, England, died this week after crashing at the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy, an annual motorcycle event here that claimed two more lives on Wednesday. Four competitors died in the races last year, and another was killed the year before that. Those fatalities brought the death toll at the event, known as the TT, to 146 since it was first run in 1907. If one includes fatal accidents occurring during the Manx Grand Prix, the amateur races held later in the summer on the same Snaefell Mountain Course, the figure rises above 250.

For this reason, and others, the TT has few parallels within global sports. The concept of mortality underpins everything here. It gives the race its prestige, opens it to criticism, makes it exhilarating, makes it terrifying. It puts the island on the map.

It is also why, for two weeks each year, this sleepy rock in the middle of the Irish Sea (population 88,000) becomes something like a rollicking festival ground. Organizers convert 37.73 miles of undulating public roads into an enormous, claw-shaped racetrack, and roughly 40,000 visitors, many of them bringing their own motorcycles, join local fans for a week of practices and a week of competition. It all culminates with the Senior TT, which takes place this Friday, a public holiday on the Isle of Man. (Schools are closed for the entire race week.)

Speeds over the four race days routinely exceed 200 miles per hour. Every year, there are crashes. Almost every year, there are deaths.

Deaths by year

For riders, the TT — arguably the world’s most dangerous race — represents a supreme challenge. Yet many of the world’s best professionals have never put tire to pavement on the course. They know that the consequences of even a minor mistake can be fatal.

“If Roger Federer misses a shot, he loses a point,” said Richard Quayle, a former TT winner. “If I miss an apex, I lose my life.”

From grandstand to finish line, here’s a tour of the deadly corners, colorful characters and rich history along one lap of the Isle of Man TT course:

GINGER HALL TO RAMSEY

This area is one of the riders’ least favorite portions because of the bumpiness of the road and the curves.

RAMSEY HAIRPIN

The hairpin, a walking-speed turn heading up to the mountain.

Joey’s

Glentramman

SULBY STRAIGHT

In 2015, James Hillier hit 206 miles per hour along this stretch.

Mountain Mile

Ballacrye Jump

Mountain box

Conor Cummins lost control here in 2010; video of the spectacular crash has been viewed millions of times online.

BALLAUGH BRIDGE

In 2014, a rider named Bob Price died after he lost control going over the humpback Ballaugh Bridge and careened directly into the side of the Raven Pub.

riders, spectators

and officials

Mile marker

The Bungalow

Windy Corner

KEPPEL GATE

Years ago, there was an actual sheep gate here. The first man through on a race day had to open the gate, and the last man had to shut it again.

Barregarrow

Creg-Ny-Baa

Cronk-y-Voddy Straight

The big grandstand and the gigantic hand-operated scoreboard across the street are permanent year-round fixtures on the course.

Glen Hellen

From Laurel Bank to Glen Hellen, sunlight through the overhanging branches has a strobe effect on the road, making it difficult to see and perceive the course.

Laurel Bank

Union Mills

Port Soderick

ISLE OF MAN

Course elevation

Cronk-y-Voddy

Sulby Bridge

The big grandstand and the gigantic, hand-operated scoreboard across the street are permanent, year-round fixtures on the course.

Grandstand: Where Skill and Danger Draw a Crowd

The grandstand area represents the TT’s main hive, brimming with energy and anticipation. The race days begin here, swelling with human drama and competitive intrigue and the thrill of possibility.

This was not always the case. In 1976, after a string of high-profile deaths and ensuing criticism, the TT lost its world championship status. For the next 30 years, the event grew stagnant and stumbled along, until many came to believe that the centenary races, in 2007, would be the final ones.

But the TT survived, and for that many thank Paul Phillips, 38, whom many simply know as “the boss of the TT.” In 2006, Phillips left a job in finance, taking a significant pay cut, to accept a government position as the Motorsport Development Manager for the Isle of Man and the difficult task of resuscitating the island’s beloved races.

“I felt, then, and I still feel now, that it’s a public service, really,” he said of his job.

Phillips and his colleagues recruited better riders, negotiated new media contracts and refocused on the safety standards that some felt had become an afterthought. At the same time, they marketed risk alongside skill.

“Before my tenure here, there was an underlying there’s-nothing-to-see-here kind of mentality, and to the wider world, to me, it felt like we came across as a group as kind of bloodthirsty and ignorant,” Phillips said. “Now, all of our marketing is about: ‘This is the most dangerous race in the world. These guys are the gladiators.’ ”

And the crowds, the excitement, and the money have returned.

Ballagarey: More Like “Balla-Scary”

The Mountain Course features several hundred distinct turns, but according to Quayle, Ballagarey Corner — or as he calls it, “Balla-scary” — is its most crucial.

The turn appears early in a rider’s lap, so neither they nor their bikes are properly warmed up. Riders arrive at high speed and exit onto a mouthwatering two-mile straight, meaning precious seconds are at stake. And it is a blind corner, which activates defensive reflexes in even the most seasoned riders.

“Your brain has a natural instinct to be careful, to protect you, to preserve you,” said Quayle, who coaches newcomers every year as a rider liaison. “When you’re rushing into a corner, your brain goes, Slow down, you idiot. Put the brake on. Turn the throttle off.”

Motorcycles enter the corner at close to 180 miles per hour, and things do not always go well. In 2010, Guy Martin, a popular English rider, rammed his Honda CBR1000RR into the stone wall there, creating a terrifyingly cinematic explosion.

Quayle, a bespectacled, eminently excitable 44-year-old Manxman nicknamed Milky, knows every bump and divot on the road. In 2002, he became one of only three people from the island to win a TT. But he stopped racing a year later after a horrific crash of his own.

Video: Meet Milky Quayle

He still marvels at the absurdity of the course — the roads lined with stone walls, mailboxes, telephone poles and storefronts, the way claustrophobic forest roads swiftly transition into wide-open mountain passages — and it is clear he misses it.

It’s like sex, Quayle said. “We all love it. But the best bit’s the orgasm, isn’t it? And you can’t have that all the time, can you? But here, when you’re riding around here, you’re getting that orgasm all the time.”

Black Dub: Riding Together, Crashing Together

Even within the motorsports community, sidecar racers are considered a peculiar breed. It takes a special sort of madness, competitors say, to put your life so fully in the guardianship of another racer.

Growing up in England, Ben Birchall always dreamed of being a solo racer, but when he turned 18, he found he had neither the money nor the connections to make it happen. Becoming a sidecar passenger, though, was another story — an easier, if crazier, way to get into the game.

“Drivers always need passengers,” Birchall, 40, said with a chuckle. “You just need some leathers and some will and probably not much brain power and certainly a lot of nerves.”

Sidecar passengers sit crouched on a platform with nothing to secure them except two handgrips. They serve as ballast for their motorcycles, sliding one way, arching their bodies another way, depending on feel and intuition and memory to move their weight around to aid their drivers.

Birchall spent 10 years as a passenger before earning the money to become a driver. When he did, his brother Tom, 10 years his junior, became his first passenger. The two have since become one of the world’s top teams, winning the sidecar world championship in 2009 and notching five TT wins. Their latest came Monday, when they set a new TT sidecar lap record, averaging 117.119 miles an hour.

“It’s a bit like a drug,” Tom Birchall said about riding in a sidecar. “You just keep chasing it. It’s a cliché, isn’t it? But it’s the closest thing I could imagine it to.”

The Birchalls’ motorsport addiction began when they were kids. Their parents, who honeymooned at the TT in 1969, brought their children to the Isle of Man each year. They said it was easy not to let brotherly love get in the way of aggressive racing, but when they crashed at Black Dub three years ago, their fraternal instincts emerged again, each one thinking first about the safety of the other.

“He was shouting for me, and I was shouting for him, as we were both spread across the road,” Tom Birchall said, laughing.

Ballaugh Bridge: Prepare for Takeoff

Gene McDonnell died near Ballaugh Bridge in 1986 in what even the competition’s official website calls “the most horrific accident ever witnessed at the TT.” It began when a helicopter dispatched to rescue a fallen rider spooked a horse, which bounded over several fences and dashed onto the racecourse — directly into the path of McDonnell, who barreled into the animal at full speed. Both McDonnell and the horse died, and McDonnell’s bike exploded into a ball of flames after crashing into a row of parked cars.

As you see in the pictures above, it's near impossible to clear the bridge without catching some air. But soar too high or too far, and the landing can be deadly.

In 2014, a rider named Bob Price died after he lost control going over the humpback bridge and careened directly into the side of the Raven Pub, a popular establishment just beyond it. Today, there is a wooden plaque, only a few inches long, on the brick wall of the pub. On it are the words, “Rest in Peace Bob.”

Hilary Musson: Never Far From the Roar

Hilary Musson remembers getting dressed and riding her motorcycle up the mountain to the 26th milestone, where she was posted as a race marshal one day a decade ago. The next thing she remembers is waking up in a hospital bed. She remembers feeling bewildered when her husband, John, informed her that six weeks had passed since she had opened her eyes. She remembers looking down at her left leg and she remembers it not being there.

“There are a lot of accidents during the races, but not a lot involving spectators, marshals, members of the public,” said Musson, now 70, taking a deep breath as she sat in her dining room. “But it had to be me.”

Musson knew the risks. In 1978, after years of competing in local races, Musson became the second woman to compete in the TT, ending a de facto 16-year ban on female participants. Musson finished 15th, one place behind her husband.

“It was just a huge sense of achievement when I finished it, because people didn’t think I would,” Musson said.

In decades of races, she had only two accidents, and her most serious injury from the two of them had been a bruised wrist. She and her husband moved to the Isle of Man in 2006, only a year before the accident. She never thought she would be hurt years after she stopped competing.

On the day of the crash — June 7, 2007 — a rider charging along the mountain course clipped a pole at high speed and was killed instantly. His motorcycle, now a rogue 400-pound missile, zigzagged back across the pavement and hurtled into a crowd of onlookers. Two spectators were killed, and two marshals, including Musson, were badly injured. When Musson awoke later that summer, she was told she had sustained fractures to her ribs, vertebrae and legs, a burst spleen and a severed femoral artery. Her left leg was amputated above the knee.

The vest she was wearing that morning, which she has kept to this day, has a tire print across the back.

“I still find it difficult to accept it, even now, because it wasn’t my fault,” said Musson, who still volunteers at the races. “I still feel it was a bit cruel, I’d say.”

From her living room, she can hear the motorcycles roaring down the Sulby Straight, one of the fastest stretches of the course. Just inside her front door sits a motorcycle, a glistening Aprilia RS250. She bought it more than 20 years ago.

“John keeps trying to get me to sell it, but I just like to see it there,” she said. “I’ve always said I’d get on a bike again, but longer I leave it, the more difficult it’s getting.”

Joey’s: Honoring the TT’s Greatest

The king of the race remains Joey Dunlop, who won a record 26 events at the TT. His sublime skills are revered today, nearly two decades after his death in a race in Estonia, even though many fans have only ever seen him compete in video clips.

“At certain corners coming through here, if you’re one foot to one side of where you should be, the bike is practically uncontrollable,” said Roy Moore, a longtime radio commentator for the TT. “Joey Dunlop, they reckon if you put a sixpence on the bloody road on a corner he would ride over it every time, because of his memory and because his ability to be in exactly the right gear, pointing in the right direction, was the same every lap he went on.”

Verandah: YouTube’s Favorite Crash

It took Conor Cummins a few months to watch the video, and as far as he is concerned, he never needs to see it again.

Filmed from above, he appears surging through Verandah, a wavy, four-turn passage on the mountain, at 150 miles an hour. As he leans into a rightward curve, he loses control and his motorcycle slides out from under him, leaving him skimming on his back, as if the pavement were a sheet of ice. With nothing to stop his momentum, he clips the edge of the road and spills off the course, tumbling violently down a steep hillside. His body bounces off the ground, twirls in the air like a can tossed from a speeding car and crash-lands, finally, amid a hail of splintered motorcycle parts hundreds of feet from the spot where he lost control.

Sickening as it is, video of the crash, from 2010, has been viewed millions of times online. The most horrific moment of Cummins’s life endures as a viral video.

“If I had a pound for every time that was watched, I think I’d be a wealthy person,” said Cummins, 30, an Isle of Man native with four podium finishes at the TT. “Is sadistic the word? But something like that is drama, isn’t it? And there’s a percentage of people who like that drama. And yeah, it was a spectacular crash. I can’t lie about that.”

Cummins spent two months in the hospital. Rods, plates and screws were inserted up and down his body to stabilize all the fractures he sustained. The incident left thick scars snarled around his skin and a traumatic memory etched into his mind.

And still, the very next year he was back at the TT, perched on his bike, zooming through Verandah.

Creg-Ny-Baa: Take in the View With a Pint

“Little businesses here rely on the TT, and for some, without a doubt, the race alone is what keeps them going all year,” said Steve Christie, 46, who helps run the Creg-Ny-Baa, a famous pub along the course.

Back in the 1960s and 70s, tourists packed the Isle of Man’s hotels and restaurants and shops, and for a few weeks each year, the island feels like its old self. Last fall, the government reported that more than 42,000 people, from more than 40 countries, visited the island during the 2016 TT. They spent an estimated 31.3 million pounds, about $40 million.

Christie said that the Creg does about a third of its yearly business during the annual race weeks. In addition to a lively party, the pub offers a stirring view. Riders descend the mountain from Kate’s Cottage, near the 34th milepost, at 150 miles an hour, pull their motorcycles into right turn at around 80 m.p.h. and then rush into a straight that some riders consider the fastest on the course.

The Finish Line: Two Racers Stand Apart

The TT field has grown ever more competitive over the last decade, but at the moment two riders stand apart from the rest: Ian Hutchinson, who won three races last year, and Michael Dunlop, who captured two. That the two men finished last year’s competition engaged in a war of words had only heightened the anticipation for their showdown this year.

“I’m sure they have mutual respect, but they don’t particularly like each other,” said John Watterson, the sports editor for Isle of Man Newspapers. “They will push it. I hope they don’t hurt themselves doing it.”

Hutchinson, 37, of West Yorkshire, England, won the Superbike race on Sunday, improving his TT win total to 15.

Dunlop, 28, from Ballymoney, Northern Ireland, has won 13 races at the TT. He descends from a racing family with a history at once proud and tragic: He is the son of Robert Dunlop (five TT wins) and the nephew of Joey (the most decorated TT racer, with 26 wins), both of whom were killed in racing crashes. Michael Dunlop famously competed in a race only two days after his father’s death in 2008 — and won.

“He’s a maverick,” said Moore, the radio commentator. “He just rides the thing like a lunatic — in control, but sometimes not where he should be. But he’s a hell of a rider.”

Last year, Dunlop set a single lap record, at 16 minutes 53.929 seconds, averaging a blistering 133.962 miles an hour. “You think you know everything, but you can always ride harder and harder and get faster and faster,” Dunlop said.

The Crematorium: The TT’s Eerie Neighbor

The ashes of Christine Cowley’s brother Paul were heavier than she expected — more like coarse sand than, say, the ash from a burning cigarette. He had told family members where he wanted his ashes spread if he were to die racing. They never thought they would have to do it.

After the funeral at Douglas Borough Crematorium — located, rather ominously, a few hundred feet from the finish line — Christine Cowley walked out to Quarterbridge Road, the spot where she and Paul had used to watch the races with their father. She and her mother awkwardly scooped his ashes with the cap of a medicine bottle. They kept losing their footing on the soft ground, and soon bits of ash were getting under their fingernails. They began to laugh, which felt strange. But it also felt good.

Paul Cowley was a sidecar passenger, like his dad. He died in 2004, after losing his grip on a practice lap near the ninth milepost. He was 22 years old and engaged to be married. His baby girl, Shauna, was born four months after his funeral.

For two years after his death, Christine Cowley left the island during the races, trying to shelter herself from the memories. Each time, though, she found herself following the results and gossip online. The third year, she stayed, and though it was tough, she enjoyed it, too. The race, she realized, was part of her DNA.

“I still love the TT,” Cowley said. “I love everything it represents.”

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The Isle of Men: The World’s Deadliest Race

O nce a year, for six days, the population of a small island in the Irish Sea doubles as motorcycle enthusiasts from around the globe flock to the racing mecca.

The Isle of Man Tourist Trophy is perhaps the most dangerous race on earth, with 242 deaths in its 107 years of existence. The TT, as it is commonly known, is the oldest race in motorcycle history, uniting high-octane adrenaline junkies with fun loving drunken bikers.

With six different events to boast of, the Manx TT races paralyze the island, as the event closes down these country roads so bikers can zoom, curve and dip through a 37.5 mile long loop at a frightening 130 mph average speed—that’s one lap in less than 18 minutes. All the kids on the island are given time off and the local economy thrives, making a large part of its earnings for the year. For those few days in spring, the incessant roar of motorcycle engines spewing high-pitched noise can be heard across the island as racers rev up for the main event.

In addition to traditional motorcycle racing, the event includes categories for electric motorcycles, sidecar racing, and various engine-sized motorbikes that see racers compete for top rank, risking life and limb in the process. Over the course of this year’s races, two men tragically lost their lives in crashes, as did one tourist riding his bike and a field marshal hired to clear the track before racing begins.

Conor Cummins, a seasoned rider describes the event as “the best race on the planet”—this despite a devastating crash in 2010 that shattered his arm, broke his back, dislocated his knee, bruised his lung and fractured his pelvis. Cummins, a native to the Isle of Man, was back on his bike 8 months later and somehow managed to compete in the following year’s Senior TT. “That was then and this is now,” says Cummins on the eve of the 2014 race “and it’s taken a lot to get back from to be honest, it took a lot of strength… And hopefully I’ll start seeing the fruits of my labors.”

On race day, Cummins, the soft spoken Manx rider tore through six laps and 226.38 miles as he competed with the heir to the Dunlop family name, Michael Dunlop. Despite a neck-and-neck race, Cummins came in second and was cheered as a victor by the local population, proving his worth to his Honda-sponsored team in the process.

As the list of deceased racers continues to grow, some wonder how much longer this race can go on.

“No one is forcing anyone to do this race… there’s not one man in that paddock that signed up because they have to” says Cummins. “iI’s because they want to.”

Die hard fans stand in the way of anyone who objects to the danger of the event, as one fan gleefully explained. When asked what he would do if they tried to cancel the Isle of Man TT, he responded simply: “Over my dead body.”

A little over a month after the TT ended, Conor crashed again at the Southern 100 on the Isle of Man, suffering a broken left forearm .“Had a bit of a shunt yesterday and got ran into by another bike,” he said. “I will be back better and stronger in no time all being well. Game on!”

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Grayson Murray's parents say the two-time PGA Tour winner died of suicide

Grayson Murray's parents said Sunday their 30-year-old son took his own life, just one day after he withdrew from a PGA Tour event. The family asked for privacy and that people honor Murray by being kind to one another.

“If that becomes his legacy, we could ask for nothing else,” Eric and Terry Murray said in a statement released by the PGA Tour.

Murray, a two-time PGA Tour winner, spoke in January after winning the Sony Open in Honolulu about turning the corner in his life, his golf and battles with alcoholism and mental health. He died Saturday morning.

EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes a discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org .

Murray had to go through the Korn Ferry Tour to get his PGA Tour card back. And then he birdied the last hole at the Sony Open to get into a playoff, and made a 40-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole for an emotional win.

“It's not easy,” Murray said immediately after winning. "I wanted to give up a lot of times. Give up on myself. Give up on the game of golf. Give up on life, at times.”

Murray tied for 43rd last week in the PGA Championship, which enabled him to hold his position among the top 60 to earn a spot in the U.S. Open next month at Pinehurst No. 2 in his native North Carolina.

He shot 68 in the opening round at Colonial. The next round, he was 5 over and coming off three straight bogeys when he withdrew citing an illness.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said he spoke with Murray's parents about halting play at Colonial and they insisted the golf tournament continue.

Monahan flew to Fort Worth, Texas, to be with players. Many of them wore black-and-red pins on their caps Sunday in honor of Murray. Those are the colors of the Carolina Hurricanes, his favorite NHL team.

“We have spent the last 24 hours trying to come to terms with the fact that our son is gone. It’s surreal that we not only have to admit it to ourselves, but that we also have to acknowledge it to the world. It’s a nightmare,” his parents shared in their statement.

"We have so many questions that have no answers. But one. Was Grayson loved? The answer is yes. By us, his brother Cameron, his sister Erica, all of his extended family, by his friends, by his fellow players and — it seems — by many of you who are reading this. He was loved and he will be missed.

“Life wasn't always easy for Grayson, and although he took his own life, we know he rests peacefully now.”

Grayson was a raw talent after taking up golf at age 8. He won his age division three straight years at the prestigious Junior World Championship in San Diego. But he struggled to fit in at college, going to Wake Forest, East Carolina and then Arizona State.

His first coach was Ted Kiegel in North Carolina, who like so many others was devastated.

“Words cannot express the tragedy of this moment,” Kiegel said in a statement sent to The Associated Press. “Grayson came from something that was ordinary and made it EXTRAORDINARY. ... He burned bright for the 30 years he gave us.”

Murray won as a 22-year-old rookie at the Barbasol Championship in Kentucky, and frustration began to set in as he didn't improve as quickly as others whom he routinely beat as amateurs.

He was always open about depression and anxiety, and his bouts with alcohol. One of his darker moments was at the Sony Open in 2021 when he was suspended for an incident in a Hawaii bar. Murray took to social media to say, "Why was I drunk? Because I’m a (expletive) alcoholic that hates everything to do with the PGA Tour life and that’s my scapegoat.”

He also accused the tour of not giving him proper help, which the tour denied.

Monahan said Saturday at Colonial that he called Murray right after that posting and subsequently spent a lot of time with him.

“I think one of the elements of his legacy is his resiliency,” Monahan said. "So you think of going back to 2017, winning the Barbasol Championship, going back and forth between the Korn Ferry Tour and the PGA Tour. ... self-assessing, coming back, becoming in his own eyes a stronger human being, and then winning three times in the past year.

“To me, that’s a level of resiliency that is extraordinary.”

When he won on the Korn Ferry Tour last year, Murray talked about his parents having “been through hell and back basically for the last six years for me fighting some mental stuff.”

“Everyone has their battles,” Murray said a year ago. “Sometimes people are able to hide them and function, and sometimes you're not. I think our society now is getting better about accepting that it's OK to not be OK. I've embraced that mentality. I'm not ashamed that I go through depression and anxiety.”

He also used social media to reach out to others dealing with similar issues in a sport where losing takes place far more than winning.

Murray said in January after he won the Sony Open that he often felt like a failure who had wasted his talent.

“It was a bad place, but like I said, you have to have courage," he said. "You have to have the willingness to keep going. Lo and behold, that’s what I did, and I’m here, and I’m so blessed and I’m thankful.”

He saw that Sony Open victory — which got him into the Masters for the first time — as the start of a new chapter. He said he had become a Christian and was engaged to Christiana Ritchie. He said in January the wedding had been planned for late April.

“My story is not finished. I think it’s just beginning,” Murray said in Hawaii. “I hope I can inspire a lot of people going forward that have their own issues.”

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Grayson Murray dies at age 30 a day after withdrawing from Colonial, PGA Tour says

FILE -Grayson Murray holds the trophy after winning the Sony Open golf event, Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024, at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning, May 25, 2024 at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial(AP Photo/Matt York, File)

FILE -Grayson Murray hits off the 18th tee during the first round of the PGA Zurich Classic golf tournament at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, La., Thursday, April 20, 2023. Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning, May 25, 2024 at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

FILE -Grayson Murray celebrates winning the Sony Open golf event, Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024, at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning, May 25, 2024 at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)

Grayson Murray hits from the fairway on the 10th hole during the first round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Valhalla Golf Club, Thursday, May 16, 2024, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Matt York)

FILE -Grayson Murray watches his tee shot on the third hole during the final round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Quail Hollow Club Sunday, Aug. 13, 2017, in Charlotte, N.C. Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning, May 25, 2024 at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.(AP Photo/Chuck Burton, File)

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Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.

There were no immediate details on the circumstances of his death, only shock and grief from the PGA Tour and his management team.

“I am at a loss for words,” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said. “The PGA Tour is a family, and when you lose a member of your family, you are never the same. We mourn Grayson and pray for comfort for his loved ones.”

His management company, GSE Worldwide, confirmed the death and said it was heartbroken.

“We will hold off on commenting until we learn further details, but our heart aches for his family, his friends and all who loved him during this very difficult time,” GSE said in a statement.

Monahan said he spoke with Murray’s parents to offer condolences, and they asked that the tournament in Fort Worth, Texas, continue.

He said grief counselors would be on site at the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour event in Knoxville, Tennessee. Monahan headed to Texas and later appeared on CBS as the third round was ending.

“To see the devastation on the faces of every player coming in is really difficult to see and really just profound,” Monahan said. “Grayson was a remarkable player, but he was a very courageous man. I’ve always loved that about him.”

Murray, who had dealt with alcohol and mental health issues in the past, made a massive turnaround this year and won the Sony Open , hitting wedge to 3 feet for birdie on the final hole to get into a playoff and winning it with a 40-foot putt.

He also won the Barbasol Championship in 2017.

“It was a huge shock. My heart sank,” said Webb Simpson, who learned of Murray’s death shortly before teeing off at Colonial. He said Murray was the first winner of his junior tournament and they shared the same swing coach as juniors.

“I just hate it so much,” Simpson said. “I’m going to miss him. I’m thankful he was in the place with his faith before this morning happened.”

Murray was No. 58 in the world rankings coming off a tie for 43rd in the PGA Championship last week at Valhalla. He also made the cut in his Masters debut, finishing 51st, and was in the field for the U.S. Open next month at Pinehurst No. 2.

Murray, who grew up in North Carolina, was among the most talented juniors in the country. He won the prestigious Junior World Championship in San Diego three straight years and earned the Arnold Palmer Scholarship at Wake Forest.

He wound up going to three colleges, lastly at Arizona State, and won as a 22-year-old PGA Tour rookie at the Barbasol Championship.

Murray said in January that he had been sober for eight months, was engaged to be married, had become a Christian and felt his best golf was ahead of him. He was appointed to the 16-member Player Advisory Council.

“My story is not finished. I think it’s just beginning,” Murray said in Hawaii. “I hope I can inspire a lot of people going forward that have their own issues.”

Murray said he used to drink during tournament weeks as a rookie because he knew he had talent and felt he was invincible. He also brought attention to himself through social media, openly criticizing other players and getting into one social media spat with Kevin Na over Na’s reputation as a slow player.

But he felt like he turned the corner when he sought help — letting others fight for him, is how he explained it this year.

“It took me a long time to get to this point,” Murray said in January. “That was seven years ago, over seven years ago. I’m a different man now. I would not be in this position right now today if I didn’t put that drink down eight months ago.”

Peter Malnati played with Murray at Colonial. He offered to go on the CBS telecast Saturday afternoon and immediately broke down trying to talk about him.

“It’s a huge loss for all of us on the PGA Tour,” Malnati said. “As much as we want to beat each other, we’re one big family, and we lost one today. It’s terrible.”

This story has been corrected to show that Murray won the Barbasol Championship in 2017, not last year.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf