If you’re surprised to see Ben Griffin’s name atop the Memorial leaderboard at the halfway point of this big-money, loaded-field Signature Event at Jack Nicklaus’ place, you haven’t been paying attention.
Griffin has been one of the hottest players on the planet the last month.
At the end of April, he teamed with Andrew Novak to win the Zurich Classic and pick up his first career PGA Tour victory. He missed the cut and tied for 46th the next two weeks, but that was followed by a T8 at the PGA Championship — his first-ever major top 10 — and gave way to last week’s Charles Schwab Challenge, where Griffin won again.
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While the Zurich was a team event and didn’t offer World Ranking points, the same can’t be said for the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial. It reiterated this run by Griffin is no fluke, and it vaulted him to 24th in the Official World Golf Ranking. His highest previous rank was 48th.
The win at the Zurich was the 29-year-old pro’s first in his 90th start on Tour, and it followed two seasons in which he had eight top 10s in 72 starts. While he wasn’t winning before the Zurich, he wasn’t exactly struggling, either.
When that win finally came, it was the assurance he needed.
“I always said, once I got my first win, it would free me up a ton,” Griffin said Friday at the Memorial. “My mindset’s never changed from before I won to now, but I would say I just feel so much more confident in myself and my ability that I’ve gotten it done. I can weigh back on some of those moments going back to the Schwab, going back to the Zurich with Andrew, where I hit some really quality shots down the stretch and was able to get it done.
“So once you kind of do that a couple times, it frees you up to kind of continue to do it, you know you can, and you keep the pedal down,” he continued. “Beforehand I was playing pretty solid golf, but I would say even for my physical game and body-wise, I just feel like I’m in a really good place to be an elite golfer.”
Griffin opened the Memorial with a 65 on Thursday, making birdie on the last three to grab the first 18-hole lead of his career. On Friday, in tougher conditions, he made one birdie and one bogey for an even-par 72. At seven under, he holds the 36-hole co-lead with Canadian Nick Taylor.
Already this season Griffin has six top 10s in 18 starts and has shot up the FedEx Cup standings, sitting in 5th place. He’s even 13th in the Ryder Cup standings.
On Friday he was asked if this is the most fun he’s had playing golf.
“I don’t think it can get any better,” he said. “Someone said I’m the hottest golfer on the PGA Tour. I mean, I feel like I’m playing right now with a ton of confidence. I’m hitting it kind of more or less where I’m looking with a lot of my clubs. Golf’s cyclical, but it’s fun to be on these highs, and I’m just going to try to stay on the high as long as possible.”
Griffin and Taylor, in the final pairing, get their third round started at 3:10 p.m. ET on Saturday. You can follow along from 2-5:30 p.m. on Golf Channel, with CBS taking over the coverage from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
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