Ben Griffin

Exempt status

• Korn Ferry Tour: Qualifying Tournament Finishers 11-40 and Ties (thru 2022)

JOINED TOUR

• PGA TOUR Canada: 2018
• Korn Ferry Tour: 2019
• PGA TOUR Latinoamérica: 2020

PGA Tour Canada Victories (1)

2018 Season

• Staal Foundation Open presented by tbaytel

Personal

• Stepped away from the game and worked as a loan officer for a mortgage group in North Carolina during the spring and summer of 2021. He had previous experience as a property manager for a North Carolina realty company.
• Started playing golf as soon as he could walk. He remembers playing in US kids events with his dad caddying. he shared a lot of special moments alongside his father.
• His great grandfather, Benjamin Cowan Shields, played professional baseball (pitcher) for the New York Yankees from 1924-25, Boston Red Sox in 1930, and Philadelphia Phillies in 1931. He joined the Yankees late in 1923, pitched batting practice, and Babe Ruth hit a line drive into the right side of his chest. Near the end of 1925, Shields had recurring medical problems and discovered the line drive damaged his lung and it became infected over the two-year period. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis and voluntarily retired until his return in 1930.
• His parents met at the University of North Carolina and stayed in Chapel Hill.
• Does not drink coffee or soda.
• Enjoys going to the lake and wakeboarding.
• Walk up song would be "Let's Go" by Calvin Harris.

Special Interests

• Music, travel, good food/cooking

CURRENT YEAR HIGHLIGHTS

• Lake Charles Championship: Carded a final-round 5-under 66, totaling a 12-under 272 and surging from T36 to T9, his fifth top-15 in the first seven events of the season, at the Lake Charles Championship.
• LECOM Suncoast Classic: Posted a second consecutive T2 with a 16-under 268, highlighted by a 7-under 64 in the second round and 6-under 65 in the third round, and had a potential tying birdie putt on the 72nd hole come within inches of the cup at the LECOM Suncoast Classic.
• Astara Golf Championship presented by Mastercard: Held the outright 36-hole lead, co-led after 54 holes, and lipped out what would have been a playoff-forcing eagle putt on the 72nd hole. Totaled an 18-under 265 with a 9-under 61 on the satellite course and three 3-under 68s on Country Club de Bogota’s Lagos course en route to a T2 finish at the Astara Golf Championship presented by Mastercard. Highest Korn Ferry Tour finish prior to the 2022 season was T29 in 2019.
• The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay: Made the cut on the number and closed with back-to-back 5-under 67s, including birdies on four of his final five holes, for a T8, his first career top-10 on the Korn Ferry Tour, at The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay.

Career Highlights

2022 Season

• Lake Charles Championship: Carded a final-round 5-under 66, totaling a 12-under 272 and surging from T36 to T9, his fifth top-15 in the first seven events of the season, at the Lake Charles Championship.
• LECOM Suncoast Classic: Posted a second consecutive T2 with a 16-under 268, highlighted by a 7-under 64 in the second round and 6-under 65 in the third round, and had a potential tying birdie putt on the 72nd hole come within inches of the cup at the LECOM Suncoast Classic.
• Astara Golf Championship presented by Mastercard: Held the outright 36-hole lead, co-led after 54 holes, and lipped out what would have been a playoff-forcing eagle putt on the 72nd hole. Totaled an 18-under 265 with a 9-under 61 on the satellite course and three 3-under 68s on Country Club de Bogota’s Lagos course en route to a T2 finish at the Astara Golf Championship presented by Mastercard. Highest Korn Ferry Tour finish prior to the 2022 season was T29 in 2019.
• The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay: Made the cut on the number and closed with back-to-back 5-under 67s, including birdies on four of his final five holes, for a T8, his first career top-10 on the Korn Ferry Tour, at The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay.

2020 Season

Played the inaugural LOCALiQ Series, appearing in four tournaments and making two cuts. Finished the season 122nd on the points list.

• PTLA Qualifying Tournament-Mission Inn: After finishing T12 with two others, lost a three-players-for-one spot playoff for the final fully exempt position for the first half of PGA TOUR Latinoamérica’s season to Keith Greene. Finished at 2-under and is conditionally exempt for the first half of the year.

2019 Season

Split his time between the Korn Ferry Tour and the Mackenzie Tour, making eight Korn Ferry Tour starts, with three made cuts. Made one cut in five appearances in Canada.

2018 Season

Played in all 12 Mackenzie Tour events, making eight cuts, recording a win at the Staal Foundation Open and posting one other top-10 finish. Ended the year No. 8 on the Order of Merit, earning an exemption into the final stage of Korn Ferry Tour Q-School and Mackenzie Tour status for the 2019 season.

• Staal Foundation Open presented by tbaytel: With weekends rounds of 66-64, came from behind to pick up first career professional win. After making birdies on 16 and 17, claimed the victory by one shot in his sixth professional start by picking up another birdie on 18. Became the youngest 2018 Mackenzie Tour winner at 22 years, 2 months, 9 days. The final-round 64 is his second-lowest score this season, only the 63 he shot during the final round of the Freedom 55 Financial Open better.
• Freedom 55 Financial Open: Finished the season-opening tournament with a flourish, shooting a best-of-the-tournament 63 on the final day at Point Grey G&CC to finish fourth, three shots behind winner Jordan Niebrugge.

Amateur Highlights

• Played collegiately for four seasons at University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill (2014-18), earning All-America Honorable Mentions in 2015 and 2017, All-America Scholar laurels in 2017 and 2018, and All-Atlantic Coast Conference plaudits in 2015 and 2018.
• Won three individual titles at North Carolina and broke the program record for career scoring average (72.02), a record once held by Davis Love III.
• Finished T2 at the 2017 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship, where he lost to Jimmy Stanger, a Korn Ferry Tour member then at the University of Virginia, in a playoff.
• Won two U.S. Kids Golf Teen World Golf Championships at Pinehurst, winning the Boys 14 title in 2010 and the Boys 15-18 crown in 2011. The 2010 field included Sam Burns, who finished T9. Griffin beat Korn Ferry Tour member Will Gordon by a stroke to take the 2011 title.
• Won the 2013 AJGA Rolex Tournament of Champions over a field which included Doug Ghim (T4), Sam Burns (6th), Zecheng Dou (7th), Carl Yuan (9th), Scottie Scheffler (T10), and Cameron Champ (T15), in addition to earning a spot on the 2013 AJGA Rolex Junior All-America First Team with Scheffler and Collin Morikawa.
• Won individual North Carolina state titles as a freshman (2011) and junior (2013). He chipped in on the second playoff hole when he won the 2011 title as freshman.

Q SCHOOL GRADUATE

• PGA TOUR Canada: 2018
• Korn Ferry Tour: 2018
• PGA TOUR Latinoamérica: 2020