After midnight, walk along Bourbon Street along with a six-inch chrome belt around your waist, a golfer barely known to the city. But Ben Griffin knows who he is and how he feels – Invincible. He walked into some random dive bars in the French Quarter of New Orleans and cheered “Hey, good belts!” but they didn’t realize the meaning and saw nothing strange about fashion choices because they stood out around these sections.
The belt follows the buckled “Zurich Classic Team Championship” with music notes, fleurs-de-lis, crocodile and carnival masks decorate the edges. About six hours ago, Griffin and his friend Andrew Novak won the only team event on the PGA Tour to win.
That means it's time to have Sunday night celebrations, and luckily they're in a place where they don't close early. A tour official got the duo's table at Galatoire's, a beautiful catering agency in Bourbon. They eat all night, drink champagne, and swallow some old-fashioned. They roamed the season, then jumped into the bar, and ended the evening at Caesars Palace, where Griffin proudly won the $45 game.
“What are we not doing?” he said last week, preparing for his first tour tournament. “The night is long.”
In that moment, Ben Griffin was just another first-time PGA Tour title, and it felt like he went bankrupt when he won the championship in the low-level game. His partner Novak has more attention.
The Golf World didn't realize it was the beginning of being introduced to a new major character: wearing a pilot's, popular, popular quote personality, and he only afterwards thought of like one of the 10 best golfers in the world. Griffin is a performer, the kind of person who goes off the line, tells the story of blackening out of creatine “overdose.” He said “take it root” into evil weather and attract crowds. As he awaits Wednesday's big announcement, he said he was “too lucky to be under pressure” to the people.
Griffin's pandemo foot tilted to Earth next month at Bethpage Black's Long Island Ryder Cup is a golfer who tilted over Bethpage Black, listening to the noisy crowd, staring directly at the stressful moment behind his tinted Uswing Mojing shadow.
Assuming he is the lockdown for Team USA, many spend most of the summer, having two wins this season, 10 top ten, and ninth in the Ryder Cup standings. But the closer we get to the team announced Wednesday, the more speculations there are about Griffin’s position. Especially after Captain America Keegan Bradley told the Golf Channel Sunday: “There may be some people who think they will join the team.”
Zurich's classic is a breakthrough moment for Ben Griffin, Left and Andrew Novak. It also comes with a belt. (Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
Griffin never shyly believed in himself. Just like when he went out of the route, he was ranked fourth midway through the U.S. Open. He played with Bradley and Griffin kept joking, “Yes, Keegan said, who is the low guy after going into the Ryder Cup on 36 holes, so I think I'll get – I'm just kidding.”
Or, when the PGA Tour posted a video after Griffin during the FedEx St. Jude Championship, he frolicly turned around and whispered, “Choose me!”
Understanding Griffin’s career arc is to recognize this undeniable self-confidence. This is the job of a golfer who exits golf in 2021 and can earn a PGA Tour card in a year and become a game from 2025 to 2025. Even if he plays an obscure start time along the edge of Tee paper, it is followed by the same Chirpy Swagger. This is Captain's Griffin's choice.
“That’s what Ben looks like,” Novak said.
Three years ago, Novak still couldn't get out of it for a moment. Griffin hit a random round on Sea Island, Georgia, and he had 11 holes to walk on all the heaters. He needs an eagle to shoot 59. Standing on the fairway about 160 yards to the last pin, he had the idea to tell his partner to start shooting. “I’m going to do this,” he said.
Griffin did it. He rushed out of the 160-year-old fairway, and his eyes sprinted on the fairway before the internet was on the internet.
“Who is that?” Novak said. “I don't know. He's crazy.”
It's fun to see! ! It must be covered in the last 59! @chillinchico @pgatour @pgatourkevin @GolfChannel @golfcentral @kornferrytour @epn @SportScenter @bengriffingolf https://t.co/3ws1jfur6q pic.twitter.com/edmba8xh9s
— Harrison Shih (@hshihgolf) July 9, 2022
OK, so someone believes in themselves, does he know this season is coming?
“It's not necessarily everything that happened, but I know I'll be better,” Griffin said in Atlanta. He saw the progress happening, rising from the Korn Ferry Tour to rank his PGA Tour at No. 61 last season. He saw the benefits of experience. In fact, he saw himself joining the top 50 in points this season and attending all signature events.
But then he entered the top 10 three times before March 2. He won Zurich with Novak in April, and was one of the most popular players on the tour. This seems to unlock greater beliefs. Ranked eighth in the PGA Championship. Charles Schwab Invitational Solo Win. Second in the Memorial, tenth in the U.S. Open, never stops after that – 10 top 20 in his last 12 games. This is no longer a passionate stripe. Griffin rose to become the fourth highest American in stroke, getting the data.
Griffin's short game has been respected – he said he developed the short when his family was overwhelmed by the 2008 recession, and he didn't spend much on range balls. But he started chasing the swing speed. He said his goal is to increase one mile per week and slowly improve to mile 71 on the PGA Tour. Three years later, he is now standing out from the tee.
Griffin leans towards all these stories about himself. He admitted that he wasn't exactly a grinder, calling himself “more gamers.” He did not refuse media requests. Even if he is indeed a version of himself he portrays, he still knows how to play for the camera. Despite this, he pulled the brakes slightly in the description.
He laughed and joked, “I don’t necessarily speak up on the golf course.
Now, Bradley will make an enviable decision. He will have to choose between a superstar major champion and an inexperienced golfer. He will need to fight the real performance and who is doing well. Oh, and he will need to decide whether he wants to take himself as the tournament captain, no matter which way he leans, it is a controversial decision.
But if Griffin was excluded, it would likely mean that it had nothing to do with golf, because on paper, there was no strong argument for him.
“It's been a fun summer. I've been doing (Netflix documentary) “in full swing”, I've been doing a lot of media, and I feel like every day I get questions about the Ryder Cup. It's definitely an extra stress for me, and it's more ideas for me than I should, far beyond my mind,” Griffin said.
In another day, he will have to wait and see and hope that he will bring up a case, something he has never been shy about.
“It's hard to be a bubble guy outside that top six, but I've been doing very solid this year,” Griffin said. “Hope Keegan sees that, hope I represent the United States.”
(Top photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)