Young man withdraws from tournament after falling ill and passes away. 30 years old is way too young to go. I’ve listened to podcasts with him on them and he openly talks about his addiction and recovery.
Watched him at the Masters and thought man this guy is a stud and just smokes it.
Very Sad
Makes you appreciate each day!!!
Gone way too soon!
The story gets sadder, unfortunately.
What a tragic story. I feel for his family, his friends, and his fiancee.
Damn. I was fearful that was the case. I was hoping he was turning it around. Prayers for him and his loved ones. 
sdandrea1 I was hoping he was turning it around
By all accounts, he was, so something triggered his relapse.
Not to over speculate, but his wedding was supposed to be "end of April" and it didn't happen.
The statement by the family excludes his fiance specifically so that might be it.
Regardless, while maybe not surprising, it is still tragic.
More will come out in time as nothing seems to stay 100% private anymore, imo.
I've been sober for almost 6 years now. During that time I've been blessed to be able to help several men get and stay sober. But I will tell you that it is not an endeavor for the faint of heart. In just about every case of alcoholism and addiction (including my own) there lies, at the root, a substantial degree of mental illness.
Just because someone stops drinking doesn't mean life automatically gets better. Alcoholism and addiction are symptoms of something much deeper going on. So while recovery programs are a huge resource (AA has helped me tremendously!) they don't address mental illness. Most addicts and alcoholics are seeking mental/emotional relief when they drink and drug.
Men, especially, struggle getting the help they need. We don't like asking for help. We don't like letting people know what's going on deep down. We don't like admitting that we have a problem, because of the stigma of being perceived as weak.
I don't know how much of this applied to Grayson, but I'm guessing at least some of it did.
My first AA sponsor asked me, "Do you own a suit?"
I said, "Yeah. Why?"
He said, "Because if you hang around AA long enough, you'll need it. You'll probably be going to some funerals."
Sadly, he was absolutely correct.
Add to that the stresses of being a tour pro. Golf beats us up, I can only imagine what it does to struggling pros.
Back in 2020, a guy that attended some of the same meetings I would go to celebrated a year of sobriety. Got his job back. Seemed happy. Always had a smile on his face.
One morning he grabbed a lawn chair and sat down in his front yard. He put a gun under his chin and pulled the trigger. Two minutes later a busload of school kids drove by and saw this man with his brains hanging out of his head.
Just a few weeks earlier he had received his 1-yr sober coin. It happens a lot more often than people realize.
There's no helping people who don't want to be helped. It's so sad.
COD apparently was Carbon Monoxide poisoning from his vehicle he left running in his garage while he went to bed upstairs in his townhouse.
Good grief.
PA-PLAYA My first AA sponsor asked me, "Do you own a suit?"
I said, "Yeah. Why?"
He said, "Because if you hang around AA long enough, you'll need it. You'll probably be going to some funerals."Sadly, he was absolutely correct.
So true. My nieces husband committed suicide this past Sunday. He was an alcoholic. My cousin who is an alcoholic told him that there were two roads he could take. The road to recovery or he’d end up dead. Sadly he wasn’t strong enough to fight thru it. He leaves behind two boys ages 4 and 9.
You are correct that addiction is a mental illness. I’m of the belief that if life is too painful which it is for many that you have the right to end that pain. My cousin who is my age is one of the lucky ones who is very active in AA. But it took him years and a lot of drama to find sobriety.
This is going to sound cruel perhaps, but my niece and her late husband were going thru a divorce because of his addiction. And although he ended his life, in the end several of us in the family feel this will be better in the long run.
Like I mentioned there’s a lot of painful drama in these relationships. Saw it first hand with my cousin. My niece will be fine. The only one we’re worried about is her 9 year old. He will remember this. But he has a loving mother, uncle and grandparents who will be there for him.
Just want to add. No one can force anyone into recovery. In the end it’s their choice.
