Kevin Na and Grayson Murray had another dust up.
It wasn’t quite The Thrilla in Manilla, the third battle between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, but to hear Murray tell it, the latest kerfuffle nearly came to blows.
Speaking on the Stripe Show podcast, Murray said that Na taunted him on the driving range on Wednesday ahead of the Mexico Open at Vidanta.
“I went right up to his face and held my ground, and I told him, if I wasn’t going to get suspended right now I’d drop his (butt) right there on the range. Because what he said was very immature and I know he wouldn’t have said it to me if we were just seeing each other outside of the golf course,” Murray said.
The bad blood between the two dates back to a Twitter beef that began in January at the Sony Open in Hawaii when golf personality Chantel McCabe, who hosts a show on SiriusXM among other broadcasting roles, tweeted rather innocently,” “Kevin Na walking in putts does not get old.”
Murray used it as a chance to take a shot at Na, who has been the target of criticism during his career for slow play. “Kevin Na taking 3 minutes to putt them does get old,” Murray responded.
Na fired back at Murray, “u missing the cut is getting old!”
Murray, whose lone win was at the 2017 Barbasol Championship, hadn’t made a cut since March, having missed the weekend at 13 of his last 17 events and had withdrawn in two of his last three starts.
Their Twitter war died down and it appeared to be the end of the public spat until Murray revealed that Na won’t let their dispute die.
“I was hitting balls on the range and just kind of had my head down walking to the chipping green,” Murray said. “Sure enough, I hear someone yelling and cussing at me.”
Murray said veteran caddie Mike Hicks, who worked for Murray at one time, warned him to back away and avoid letting Na provoke him. Murray told Hicks if such behavior happened in a hockey game, he would have gotten a “10-minute major and would have been out for the season.”
Murray claimed, “I’m living rent-free in his head right now,” and added, “I told him, if he goes and plays in the Saudi League, no one’s going to miss him on this Tour.”