Colonial Leader Having Breakthrough, Warns PGA Tour 'More to Come'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Ben Griffin, the 29-year-old from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, has had a breakthrough season on the PGA Tour.
In addition to winning the Zurich Classic of New Orleans alongside Andrew Novak, Griffin has five top-10 finishes this year, which includes last week's PGA Championship, where he tied for eighth.
His strong play has continued at this week's Charles Schwab Challenge, where Griffin found himself atop the leaderboard when he walked off the golf course. He shot a marvelous 7-under 63 on Friday and is 11-under at the midway point. Griffin's only bogey on Friday came on the par-4 5th, which is historically the toughest hole at Colonial.
His 11-under total matches his career best in an individual stroke play event on the PGA Tour through 36 holes, per the tour's communications team. The other instance came at the 2022 Butterfield Bermuda Championship. Griffin tied for third that week.
"Now that I've got that first win, I feel like it's really freeing me up… Not that I wasn't trying to win in the past, but just the monkey off the back where I've got a nothing to lose mentality. Like we're trying to attack pins and get up there with the boys at the top of the leaderboard," Griffin said after his second round on Friday.
Ben Griffin plays his shot from the 18th tee during the second round of the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas.
Ben Griffin plays his shot from the 18th tee during the second round of the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas.
Photo by/Photo by"It's definitely been a breakthrough year, but I think there's more to come."
Remarkably, Griffin has emerged as a dark-horse candidate for the U.S. Ryder Cup team. He is currently 18th in the U.S. standings and continues to trend in the right direction. More strong results will force captain Keegan Bradley to consider him. After all, his strokes gained numbers in 2025 show that he has no glaring weaknesses in his game. He does everything well, as evidenced by his strong showing so far this week in Ft. Worth.
Through 36 holes at Colonial, Griffin is 19th in strokes gained off the tee, fifth in strokes gained approaching the green, seventh in strokes gained around the green, and ninth in putting. All of that adds up to him leading the field on both the leaderboard and on the stat sheet.
"I feel like my game is really good right now. I feel very comfortable on this golf course, and I knew going into this round — sometimes you have those Friday rounds where you are, like, 'All right, I want to get to the weekend and give myself a chance,'" Griffin added on Friday.
"I felt like for me this morning I woke up and was, like, 'I'm going to get it rolling because I felt like I played really well yesterday.' Yesterday, too, I just didn't quite make as many birdies. Otherwise, I think I was probably the lowest score in the afternoon wave or close to it. There might have been one lower. Yeah, just playing really well. Trying to stay in my zone and keep plugging along."
All Griffin does is plug along. Last year, he played in 35 PGA Tour events and finished the season ranked 57th in the FedEx Cup Fall. That allowed him to make starts at The Sentry and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the first two Signature Events of the season, which helped jump start his year. He has been trending nicely ever since.
"I've done a lot of the right things this season to kind of get myself from where I was over the last couple of years from being a really good PGA Tour player but finishing in the 50s, not as well known of a name," Griffin said.
"I feel like this year I'm trying to do everything I can to help myself be more of an elite player out here and get in contention more."
He has found himself on the front page of the leaderboard quite often, which explains why he is currently 21st in the FedEx Cup rankings. But a win this week would shoot him up even higher. It would also give him a healthy dose of confidence and indicate to the rest of the golf world that yes, there is more to come.
More Golf: Collin Morikawa's Axed Caddie Lands on Ryder Cup Hopeful's Bag at Colonial
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