Defending champ Ben Griffin gets emotional talking about close friend Austin Hitt at World Wide Technology

Ben Griffin returns to El Cardonal at Diamante this week as the defending World Wide Technology Championship winner, but on Tuesday in Los Cabos, Mexico, he was talking about someone else’s win.

Griffin, who won three times in 2025, was in tears when close friend Austin Hitt won the Korn Ferry Tour Championship last month. Hitt is in the field this week on a sponsor exemption.

“I get emotional talking about Austin because he’s like a little brother to me,” Griffin said.

The two overlapped at North Carolina in 2017-18 and have stayed close since. Hitt said they spoke by phone throughout the week during the Korn Ferry Tour finale at The Federal Club in Richmond, Virginia, including before Sunday’s final round. Hitt told Griffin he was having trouble sleeping on the 54-hole lead and could feel the pressure. Griffin passed along what he’d learned.

“There’ll be a moment where you don’t need to play safe, you need to play a little more aggressive,” Griffin told Hitt. “That’s what I’ve learned, and that’s how you’re going to win.”

Hitt said that moment came on the par-5 10th hole. After hitting his tee shot into the rough near a bunker, he faced a tough shot over a creek. The day before, he had played too aggressively on the same hole and found the hazard. This time he went for it and holed out for eagle, extending his lead.

“That was the moment,” Hitt told his caddie.

Hitt closed with a 66 to win by two shots over Blades Brown, earning his first Korn Ferry Tour victory and a 2027 PGA Tour card. He finished inside the top 20 on the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour Points List and is now TourBound.

The win meant even more to Griffin because of where it happened. Hitt’s father, Chip, grew up in Salem, Virginia, and played golf at Roanoke College, a few hours west of Richmond. Chip died in 2024 after a battle with cancer.

“I was honestly crying when he won, too, because his dad passed away, a big Virginia golfer, and it was just so special to see him win in Virginia to get his Tour card,” Griffin said.

El Cardonal is the site of Hitt’s lone PGA Tour start. He missed the cut in 2024 after rounds of 75-72.

Griffin won here last year by two shots, one of three titles in a breakout 2025 season, with the other two at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and the Charles Schwab Challenge. He has yet to win in 2026 but is coming off a T4 last week at Vidanta Vallarta, finishing 19 under and six shots back of winner Andrew Novak.

“I’m really excited to be on Tour with him next year,” Griffin said.