RALEIGH, N.C. — When 15-year-old Grayson Murray of Raleigh won his age group for the third consecutive time at the Callaway Golf Junior World Golf Championships, he joined an elite community in the world of golf.
Only three other boys have ever won three junior worlds in a row, a trio of names that includes one Eldrick “Tiger” Woods. And, while Tiger and the other two “three-peaters”
“I want another (Callaway Junior World),” said Murray. “I’ve been practicing hard and (four in a row) has always been in the back of my mind. I think it’d be cool to have my name with Tiger — any time your name is with Tiger when it has to do with golf, you know it’s something good.”
Widely regarded among the most prestigious junior tournament in the world, the Callaway Junior World pits 160 of the best players in each age group from about 40 different countries. Adding to the tournament cache, its most decorated champion is Mexico’s Lorena Ochoa, who won five consecutive junior worlds on the girl’s side before moving on to begin her sterling LPGA career.
The event is competed annually over a host of West Coast venues in the San Diego area — near the Callaway Golf headquarters — and Murray is the only member of the hat-trick quartet who has hailed from east of the Mississippi, a particularly impressive feat not only given the difference in time zones, but also playing conditions between the two coasts.
Despite the adjustments, in Murray’s three victories he has never shot a round over par and has led in seven of the nine rounds he has played. During the summer, Murray finished a clean sweep of the boys 13-14 division, winning by two shots over his next closest competitor, Poosit Supupramai of Thailand and by five shots over Bryson Dechambeau of Clovis, Calif.
“Going low” is something to which Murray is becoming accustomed. At age 13, he won a regional 16-19 age group tournament by shooting a flawless 63 on a TPC course in Virginia Beach, on a day when the wind was blowing 30 mph, and no other golfer on the course was able to break par. In October, Murray, who is coached by Ted Kiegel at Carolina Country Club, won the Wildwood Green Club Championship in north Raleigh by 22 strokes.
His phenomenal play recently earned Murray a spot on North Carolina’s first team All-State Golf Team, a particularly neat trick given that the Leesville Road HS freshman will not play in his first high school tournament until March 2009.
The National Junior Golf Scoreboard ranks Murray No. 1 in the North Carolina for his age. He is the top-ranked player in the country for graduation year 2012, and is currently in the overall top 50 for all ages on NJGS.
In addition, Murray was selected earlier this year as one of the recipients of a prestigious McConnell Golf High School Golf Scholarship, which offers limited membership privileges to talented young golfers that may not have the financial ability to ordinarily play one of McConnell Golf’s four challenging courses — including renowned Raleigh Country Club.
McConnell Golf High School Scholarship winners have access to all the McConnell Golf facilities and have a structured program designed to help them elevate their game.
“In all honesty I don’t think Grayson could have made the type of progress he’s made in such a short period of time without the McConnell Golf Scholarship,”
“I can’t tell you how much it has meant to Grayson. We couldn’t have continued to put Grayson in the national tournaments he needs to play to keep his game moving forward, and also belong to a club of that caliber. It’s been really, really nice to be able to go over a world-class facility like Raleigh Country Club and practice. It’s been a dream, really.”
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