Ewan Murray meets Ewen Murray at 2026 Open after 15 years of mistaken identity
Ewan Murray, the Guardian journalist, met Ewen Murray, the Sky Sports Golf commentator, in the Open Championship media centre in 2026 to revisit a 15-year run of mistaken identity that began with an email in early 2011.
The episode traces back to commentary by Ewen about Tiger Woods in Dubai that prompted an outraged message addressed to the wrong Murray. An angry correspondent from Arizona wrote: “I don’t know what it is like in your country, sir,” and added, “But here in America we SPIT!!!” Ewen said of the on-course incident: “Tiger spat on the green with three groups playing behind him,” and recalled his subsequent words on air: “For a person who is an inspiration, not just to golfers but to everyone, there are times when he is arrogant and disrespectful.” He added that he had “switched the mic off straight away” because he expected trouble and did not want people close to him to ask why he had not commented.
Both men noted the role of social media in prolonging the confusion: they had each joined Twitter in October 2010, and criticism intended for Sky’s commentator frequently landed with the Guardian’s Ewan. The misdirected ire prompted Ewan to adopt a satirical alter ego on Twitter to respond to some of the messages, a tactic that Ewen described approvingly: “I think if you don’t have humour in life; and let’s face it, there isn’t much nowadays … ” he says. “Laughter is the best medicine. I have found it all very funny and everyone I have spoken to about it is the same.”
Ewen said he regretted not replying to more messages aimed at his namesake because of the abusive language used by some correspondents: “What I should have been doing is answering some more of the messages meant for you but the trouble was the language was so bad. People just Google the name. ‘That’s him, there he is, Ewan Murray!’” He cited reactions from peers, saying: “Some of your answers are very, very funny. Darren Clarke had tears coming out of his eyes when I showed him a few of them. He used to collapse with laughter. ‘Look what he has written now.’” One exchange referenced in the correspondence mentioned “buggers upstairs not paying you properly, sinking stiff gins and dancing on the table,” and Ewan later replied, “I don’t drink stiff gin any more. And I found dancing on tables was bad for the hamstrings.”
The mix-ups produced notable public encounters. Mick Fitzgerald praised Ewan’s television commentary on a recent major, and Rory McIlroy tracked Ewen down mid-round at the 2018 Open after being amused when a multiple world champion in another sport told Ewen on first meeting: “you’re not Ewen Murray.” Ewen also recalled a more threatening moment after the Open of 2023 when a spectator had allegedly vowed to find him in a public house near Hoylake: “He was going to find me,” Ewen says. “If people don’t find it funny, if people take offence to that, I think they have a major problem. It’s actually quite lucky to have this because so many people are involved; the players, the fans, the press, the TV. Because it is funny.” He added that when he errs on air he expects the reaction to fall on Ewan: “If I say something wrong on air, I know what is coming to you. You get the brunt of it but you also get the joy of answering them. ‘Do you know how many Opens I have played in? I have played with Arnold Palmer, you know.’”
Ewen, now 71, described a broadcasting career that began almost by accident in 1990 when an Emirates executive phoned a professional’s shop in Sussex offering Brian Barnes a role at the Desert Classic and Ewen volunteered: “I said, ‘I’ll do it,’” He said organisers “sent me an air ticket and £500,” and that he had been fortunate to have recently finished playing so he “knew all the players. I knew their strengths, their weaknesses and their characters. I still have the tapes.” He recalled losing his European Tour card a year earlier and the shift in mindset that followed: “Too much negativity,” he says. Reflecting on his early life in golf, he said he left Edinburgh at 18 for an assistant professional’s job at Walton Heath and remembered thinking, “I sat on the bed and thought ‘What the hell have I done?’ I had no car. My wage was £5 a week, my digs was £5 for the week.”
On handling criticism, Ewen said: “I ignore it unless I think they might be right,” adding, “Constructive criticism is vital in life. I haven’t had it too bad, though. Nowhere near as bad as you.” Long may it continue.