Fort Worth, Texas—During the Charles Schwab Challenge, Davis Riley completed a 4–under 66 and secured a four-shot lead over Scottie Scheffler at Colonial. Meanwhile, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan conducted interviews about the recent death of two-time tour winner Grayson Murray.
This week’s unsettling news comes off the course. Last week, Scheffler was arrested during the PGA Championship following an accident that killed a pedestrian. The impact of this tragedy is being felt throughout the players, prompting Monahan to quickly fly to Texas after learning about Murray’s death on Saturday. Murray, who had previously dealt with alcohol and mental health issues, withdrew from the second round at Colonial on Friday, and news of his death reached Monahan less than 24 hours later.
As Riley faces off against world No. 1 Scheffler for his first solo victory, players are now faced with finding ways to honor Murray just four months after he won the Sony Open in Hawaii. Monahan expressed his concern, stating that the incident is not just about tomorrow but also the weeks and months ahead. He emphasized the importance of supporting Murray’s family during this difficult time.
Riley was at 14–under 196, while Scheffler shot 63 to place him alone in second at 10 under. The hometown favorite has played his last 41 holes in 13 under since his first triple-bogey of the year during the first round. Scheffler’s impressive streak continued as he found himself once again answering questions unrelated to his performance on the golf course.
Obviously, the news hasn’t really sunk in quite yet, but I’m thinking about his family and praying hard for all of them,” Scheffler said. I got to know Grayson a bit better over the last six months. There’s not really a way to put into words how sad and tragic it is.
Pierceson Coody, grandson of Texan and 1971 Masters winner Charles Coody, and Hayden Buckley were just one stroke behind Scheffler after their respective scores of 69. Tony Finau was in sixth place at 7 under with a score of 68, while Collin Morikawa (67) was tied with three others, including Keegan Bradley, who played in the three-man playoff Murray won at the Sony Open.
Webb Simpson had known Murray since he was eight years old and remembered him as the first winner of a junior tournament named after Simpson himself. Upon hearing the news about Murray’s death, Simpson found it hard to believe it was real at first but realized the gravity of the situation when he heard the emotion in his swing coach’s voice.
Riley, who only has one victory to his name (the Zurich Classic team event in New Orleans with Nick Hardy last year), birdied five out of the first eight holes before consecutive bogeys, marking his second and third of the week. Now Riley will play with Scheffler, who has been bogey-free since the triple-bogey and has ten wins and a pair of top-three finishes at Colonial since 2022.
I’ve known Scottie for a long time and played a lot of golf with him growing up,” Riley said. We both started playing around the same age, so it will be fun to compete against each other out there.
Scheffler was initially seven shots behind Riley on the back nine but managed to close the gap by birdying three of the last four holes.
I didn’t obviously know what the leaders were going to do, but just tried to do my best to not look too far ahead and continue to go out there and execute and try and give myself as many looks as possible,” Scheffler said.
Jordan Spieth, Scheffler’s fellow hometown favorite, shot 71 and was one under. Defending champion Emiliano Grillo, who made the cut on the number, shot 73 and was five under, tied for last among those playing on the weekend. Charles Coody, an eighty-six-year-old honorary member at Colonial and a native of West Texas, has seen significant changes to the course since an overhaul began at the end of last year’s event, making it the longest-running tournament held at the same venue.