Ben Griffin’s wild journey back to the PGA TOUR

Four years ago, Ben Griffin was a mortgage loan officer after stepping away from golf. With encouragement from friends and family, he Monday-qualified for a Korn Ferry Tour event, worked through Q-School and is now a two-time champion on the PGA TOUR.

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If you had to describe your season, how would you describe it if you gave it a headline? Say breakthrough. Ben Griffin. Here’s a guy who has really come on the scene this year. His dream comes true. He’s a winner now twice in the last month on the PGA Tour. The Ride a Cup coming. Ben Griffin. He’s going to be on a team. Ben Griffin, you’ve made it all the way back. It’s crazy to look back four years ago. I mean, $17,000 in credit card debt and not really sure what my trajectory in life was looking like. He was so distraught with the trajectory of his career and his game just a few short years ago. He stepped away. He was working as a mortgage investment banker in North Carolina. It was honestly a great time for me to really take a step back and think about, you know, what my life goals were and had to figure out some things. You know, working is not the same as playing golf. You’re not your own boss anymore. It was so strange figuring out what was going on. My grandpa had been battling with his health. When he passed away and, you know, his quote was hit him long and straight. It kind of hit me hard when I was kind of going to work. I was like, I I didn’t even wasn’t even really thinking about golf much at all. I didn’t want to play golf. I was burned out. And seeing that and then accidentally driving to the golf course, like a lot of that stuff just kind of made me think. And I’d lay in bed overnight thinking like maybe do I need to chase this dream? I played in a member guest at the same course they had the Price Cutter Cornferry event. Those guys were like, “You got to come back in a month and do the Monday qualifier.” Like, “I’m out of golf mode. Like, I’m just thinking about work.” And they’re like, “No, we’re going to pay for your flight. You’re coming.” came, ended up Monday qualifying, played in the event, and they were like, “You got to play professional golf again.” Decided to get back to Q school with some funds from friends and family and a sponsorship. Kind of realized what I needed to do to be really good at this sport. And when I first turned professional, I don’t necessarily know if I had that same mindset. And I think having that time off away gave me some perspective and certainly helped from a mental standpoint of just mental health, getting away from golf for a while. That’s what I tried to chase my entire life. That was my dream for 20 years. And then I take a complete step back for 3 months and I was so healthy looking back on it. The 25year-old from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. And this is a player that I think just needed his PGA Tour card. I think he’ll win on the PGA Tour. A lot of really top finishes, good seasons on the PGA Tour without winning. And I felt like it was kind of only a matter of time. I’ve been battling this quad tenonitis kind of in the offseason, end of the season where if I put weight on my left side at any given moment, it would flare up. And so that’s why I hired a physio, hired Derek Smith, and I I’d been working with Randy Myers as a strength coach. After working with Derek, he was like, “Dude, we got to strengthen around your knee as fast as possible. We got to get you stronger, a stronger base and everything so we can prevent some of this tenonitis from flaring up.” The added benefits from it was I started to hit it a little bit further. I started feeling better. I’ve got to make sure I stay strong all around to make sure I’m avoiding injury and also taking advantage of my young years on tour because we know how valuable they are and we know how important it is to play really well at this young age cuz it’s it is a game you can play for a while but it’s trending younger. Ben Griffin has started to actually get kind of sneaky long off the te’s. He’s picked up 3 mph club head speed this season. I’ve definitely gained a ton of speed off the tea. probably gained 10 to 15 yards from the start of the year at least in carry distance. Every club’s kind of been a little bit further. So that that only helps on long golf courses, even shorter golf courses, just being able to almost feel like I can overpower them a little bit. Durk, I felt like really confident from the start. First on the tea, please welcome the team of Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin. He’s trying to be first time winners. It’s go time. We’ve known each other forever and we played so much golf that we kind of understand each other’s games. Close friend, first time winning. It was kind of a perfect scripting for us to both get it done together at the Zurich Classic. Going left through the fringe and then it’ll swing the opposite direction down the hill. This looks good. Oh, he may have just sealed the deal. What a putt from Ben Griffin here at the 71st hole. [Music] A big fist pump on his hand. Ben Griffin, Andrew Novak, the winners of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Kiss him, right? I want to kiss you. It has been a lot of fun to watch the rise of Ben Griffin. Here’s a guy who has really come on the scene this year. His name is on the leaderboard every single week. This is no fluke. He’s here to stay. I’m still buying stock on Ben Griffin. I hadn’t made a cut in a major. I’d only played in a few majors before that. So, making the cut at the PGA was important just cuz it proved to me I can do it, which I knew I could. It was just a matter of time. And I was able to take what I learned there and bring it to the Charles Schwab the next week. Ben Griffin becoming a great player. This is at nine. Heck of a round of golf by Ben Griffin. This for the win. Hunter goes back the ball up to the cup. It disappeared. Ben Griffin is your champion of the Charles Schwab challenge. The interest rate in following his action going up. Get in there, girl. It’s heavy. First one just is so meaningful. But for me, I mean, the second one had a lot of meaning, too. Being an individual event, being a really strong field, a really historic venue, historic tournament. My parents did so much did so much for me. Um, growing up, um, they they got hit hard by the recession, the 2008 recession. And so they invested a lot in um, in me being able to practice and compete. I didn’t spend very much money on range balls. I was at a public golf course and I would chip and putt all day. And my parents I knew there for a little bit when we lost our house, when we lost everything. Um I know they they sacrificed a lot for me. They gave me every opportunity that every kid kind of could dream of. And so even when times were tough for them, you know, they gave me a place to play, um place to practice. It was nowhere close to any of the nicer places that any of the guys I was competing with in junior golf were practicing at, but I felt like I got better because of it. And so my perspective from that standpoint growing up was, you know, if I can practice and hit these shots off the worst lies, off the worst terrain, like it’s going to be way easier when I get out there on junior golf or in college and now professional golf. And even though I didn’t necessarily have the best facilities, I was able to make the best of it. Most people in life are faced with adversity of some sort and it’s how you make the best of those times and continue to push forward. Ben Griffin is a baller and I think he can probably loves that attribute in him and everything he’s done to improve his game, the strength, the speed to see it pay off like it has for him. I mean, that’s a massive leap. I feel like you’re constantly learning out here on tour. You’re constantly getting more and more experience and you’re learning about yourself. You’re learning about how you compete down the stretch. For me, I feel like those majors were important just to remind myself that I am one of the best players in the world and I can accomplish a lot of great things. You just got to go out there and execute and continue to believe. Ben Griffin is certainly been one of the best Americans for the entire season. I’m just really proud of the way I worked hard and yeah, I’m just very very grateful for my opportunity I had and um very grateful for the way I’ve tried to achieve as much as possible. See you at birthday. [Applause]