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McIlroy, winner of the Canadian Open in 2019
and 2022, has also been dealing with some personal turmoil
having announced earlier this month that he was ending his
seven-year marriage and had filed for divorce.
The four-time major winner has also found himself under frequent
attack as one of the front-line figures in the sometimes bitter
feud between the PGA Tour and renegade LIV Golf circuit.
"I've had to realise that at times, and I'm still sort of
working my way through that in terms of not making golf the
be-all end-all for me," the Northern Irishman told reporters
following some practice at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club.
"I think it slaps you in the face when something like that
happens last week.
"As I said, it's incredibly sad and everyone has to remember out
here that we go out and we do things that a lot of people can't,
but at the end of the day we're still human beings, and we're
vulnerable and we're fragile.
"I think if there's a lesson for anyone out there it's just to
be kinder to each other."
Murray's death, one day after he withdrew from a PGA tournament
citing health reasons, has rocked the golf world.
The 30-year-old American turned professional in 2015 and won his
first PGA Tour title in 2017. He reached a career-high 46th in
the world rankings after winning this year's Sony Open in
Hawaii.
"I came on Tour in 2016, 2017 with Grayson," said Canadian hope
Mackenzie Hughes. "It was out there for everyone, his ups and
downs, his life was well documented.
"He was doing that as well by speaking about what he was dealing
with.
"I think people realizing that professional athletes that are
making lots of money are also dealing with the same things that
everyone else deals with.
"If that's going to be his legacy, that's a pretty great one to
leave, that it's okay to be not okay.
"I know the Tour now will kind of look at how we can be better
there, how we can continue to help people like that that are
struggling and hopefully avoid this in the future."
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Hamilton. Editing by Clare
Fallon)
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