Ben Griffin on Facing Scottie: ‘No Stage Is Too Big for Me’

Ben Griffin is ready for the spotlight as he heads into the final round alongside World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. In this candid interview, Griffin talks about his journey, newfound confidence, and how his mindset has evolved on the PGA TOUR. From taking creatine for recovery to fine-tuning his ball-striking, Griffin opens up about what it takes to compete at the highest level — and why he believes no moment is too big for him now.

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All right. Been an eclectic day out there, but in good spot, one back into tomorrow. How do you feel about the day and how do you assess? Yeah, I was really into shapes today. A lot of circles and a lot of squares. Um, not a ton of Well, actually, I guess kind of a few pars here and there, but um, yeah, it was a it was a bit it was an interesting round. You know, I felt like I was starting to separate myself um, you know, midway through and then kind of got to some tough holes and didn’t execute very well. And you can do that out here. And so, tomorrow I’ve got to kind of clean up some of those holes. um make sure I stay aggressive. You know, it’s it’s hard cuz this golf course there’s not a lot of bailouts. Um especially off the tea and and a lot of times to to these greens because you can leave yourself in some really difficult spots and I unfortunately got myself in some difficult spots there for a few holes. Um so I’ve just got to stay aggressive, continue to execute. My game feels really good. Um obviously Scotty Shuffler is the best player in the world, but um number one can be beat. And then along those lines, getting to play in the final group with Scotty. What’s it like just knowing that the best player in the world is the guy you’re going kind of toe to toe with tomorrow? Yeah, I mean that’s what I would like to say that’s what all of us out here on tour, you know, wish for. They they want to compete against the best players. I definitely do. I want to um stack up my game against his. Um I feel like right now, you know, I I beat him last week. Obviously was coming off a major win, but um yeah, I feel like he he obviously can be beaten and I’ve just got to keep the pedal down and make a lot of birdies because I know he’s going to um as well. But I’ve just got to do some similar things to what I did on Thursday. Um when I had an awesome round, obviously I made made some of those putts that you don’t normally make. And so um if you look at the last couple days, I’ve still hit it really well, but I haven’t quite made as many of those longer putts that I did the first day. So hopefully I can sneak a few of those in tomorrow. Are you still taking creatine? I know you Yeah, every day. How has that um benefited your Yeah, I mean look, supplements can only do so much. You still got to work really hard. So, I’m doing it more from standpoint of muscle uh recovery, gaining muscle mass. I mean, I still got you still have to work out if you’re going to gain strength. Um, it’s not like the supplement is just going to fix everything, but I would say on tour probably 60 or 70% of guys are taking that substance. Um, I say substance supplement. Um, yeah, I guess everything is a substance to in general, but um, but no, I mean, I’m doing that. I’m taking I’m taking a bunch of different things. Um, you know, I passed my last drug test. I mean, I’m not doing anything illegal here um from two weeks ago. So, I’m just uh trying to do the the right things uh to take care of my body. Um I’m working out harder than I ever have, so I got to make sure I’m taking a lot of um consuming a lot of protein. Um and yeah, feel like I’m doing the right things. Just got to keep plugging along and I’ll keep taking creatine. Did someone on your team suggest it or Yeah, so um basically I mentioned this yesterday, but I was always working with Randy Myers. Um, and he’s been amazing to me and helped me get back to golf and everything. And, and this year on the road, I I was starting to battle some quad tenonitis and I realized that I needed someone from a physical therapy standpoint there almost every week. And so, I hired Derek Smith, who um, also works alongside Ricky Fowler. And, um, he was kind of helping me with the the PT treatments early on. And then what I what I realized through him is I needed to gain more strength kind of to to fix some of my tenonitis that I had. And over the course of time, I’ve started to gain a little bit more distance. Um, I’ve learned from him about what other athletes are kind of doing. Um, started to kind of realize that I should probably try to do this as well. And I think it’s just kind of been uh one of those things I’ve just kind of stuck with it. And I’ve continued to gain a little bit more power um and hit it a little bit further. And now it’s been kind of a fun journey doing that. Aside from playing professional golf, it feels like it’s almost like a separate thing that I’m working on when I’m in the gym and training and taking care of my body. So, um, a lot of people on my team to all think, um, but yeah, Derek, Derek’s been huge in me, um, taking some of these, uh, these different things that that are going to help me. You said you haven’t made a lot of long putts, but been making a lot of them, ones that make a difference, those three to six footers. Talk about the confidence in your putting right now. Yeah, the confidence is high. Um, you know, I’m definitely making a lot of those kind of mid-range maybe par putts, the ones inside, you know, 6 78 ft. I mean, obviously I missed the one on 18. A little hiccup, but no big deal. I mean, I’ll put that in the blinders and and keep going forward. But, um, yeah, it’s just I don’t think I’ve made that many like necessarily, you know, 20footers that I did the first. Like the first round I literally almost made everything. And I think you kind of have to do that on tour when you’re when you’re winning. You have to make some of those that you don’t necessarily expect or the stats say you shouldn’t make. Um, obviously as professional golfers at the highest level, we’re trying to make almost every shot. you know, like Nick Taylor on 14. I mean, after he made it, I was trying to make it, too. Um, even though we’re 103 yards out. So, um, yeah, just gota hopefully the the hole looks really big tomorrow and hopefully a lot of putts drop. It’s a pretty big tournament a couple weeks before the US Open. Seem like you’re just having fun and really enjoying the game of golf and you just you’re looking people in the eye and you’re just playing golf. Talk a little bit. Yeah, I don’t think there’s a stage that’s too big. There’s not a stage that’s too big for me anymore. I think if you go back maybe a year or two, um there would definitely be maybe a tick of intimidation just because I was unfamiliar with the territory. Now that I I’ve experienced it and I’ve competed against the best players in the world and had success, I mean, there’s nothing from a mental standpoint that’s going to block me from trying to win tomorrow. Um it’s a tournament. There’s a trophy every single week. Obviously, this maybe is a a little bit bigger stage being Jack’s event. Um a lot of, you know, history on this golf course. It’s a signature event. A lot of points to play for. Again, for me, I’m out there on the golf course. I’m just trying to win a golf tournament. So, um I’m excited to battle against Scotty, and I don’t think there’s a moment too big. Last question. A lot of golfers don’t wear sunglasses. You do. Talk a little about that. Why don’t golfers typically wear sunglasses and why you do? Yeah, it’s interesting. Um after learning a little bit more about like my experience, um I’m a little surprised more golfers don’t, but um yeah, I mean, I see floaters. I have really bad vision. So, um, about a year ago is when I I started seeing floaters. Went to an eye doctor, realized, uh, my retina was starting to kind of try to detach itself. I had retinal holes, and so I had to go get, um, basically laser surgery to fill in those holes. I had eight retinal holes in both eyes. So, I was at risk of losing vision maybe within, you know, five or six months had I not gotten the treatment. So, um, I still see the floaters. It was just like a I had to get the surgery just to maintain my level. Um, and because of that, when I wear sunglasses, it’s a little bit darker out, so I don’t necessarily see the floaters as well. Um, so if it’s really bright out and I’m not wearing sunglasses, I look into the clouds or whatever, and like I see black stuff everywhere. Um, so your reading, I think it does. Uh, the specific sunglasses I wear, um, they’re called Uswing Moing. Um, it’s a brand based in Asia, but, um, there’s a a few different golfer, professional golfers that wear them on across all different tours. and they have this they say the science behind them kind of helps with green reading and I think it’s 100% true. Um I love the ability to see the contrast a little bit better and then when it’s really bright it’s kind of hard to see maybe grain changes from time to time. Um so seeing contours is definitely a little bit easier I think with the sunglasses and now I mean I’m get I guess I’m getting to the point where I have more and more fans and people like it. So I’m gonna I’m not going to stop wearing them that’s for sure. One round with Scotty previously on the PG tour. Do you recall when and where that was? Yeah, the players championship. He was still playing video game golf back then. Um, that was my rookie year, final group on Saturday. Um, but yeah, I played a bunch with him in junior golf and college. Um, I’m familiar with his golf game. It’s obviously very good. Um, but yeah, I’m excited to tee it up again with him. It’s be a ton of fun. Final group, uh, it’s what we dream of as kids. So, uh, excited to get out there and battle. He was very complimentary of you descriptive about your swing in junior golf and saying you’ve come a long way kind of in your ball striking. What’s it mean to have, you know, him kind of ra about you and so complimentary all of Yeah, I mean it’s awesome. Anytime you can get a compliment from the best player in the world, it means you’re doing something decent at least. Um, so yeah, I mean I’ve known Scotty forever. I mean his game’s always been very good. I mean he had a stretch in college where he wasn’t even sure if he was going to play professionally just battling his injury. Um, and so it’s been awesome to see his progression as players. I think if you look at our kind of age group class, you have Color Morawa, you have Cameron Champ, we there’s a lot of players that kind of came out and had a lot of success and you know, I unfortunately didn’t. Um, but I wasn’t the physical golfer that I am today. Um, I’ve put in a lot of hard work to kind of improve my ball striking, which was never never a good part of my game throughout the history of my golf. I was always a good chip chipper and putter. So, um, now that ball striking’s kind of coming around, it’s uh I feel like sky’s is kind of the limit. Thank you. Thank you guys.