PGA Tour star confesses to Rory McIlroy power play bid he'll use at the Travelers Championship

Daily Record

5 hours ago

Red-hot Ben Griffin looking to keep up power-packed shows in Connecticut for big PGA event
Power-packed Ben Griffin is looking to emulate Rory McIlroy and keep driving for success at the Travelers Championship.
The American star heads into the event at TPC River Highlands on a blistering run with two wins and eight top 10 finishes this season already.
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Griffin is improving in all aspects with added power amongst the keys to his recent impressive work against the elite.
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He explained: 'Recently, I've been looking at more of the driving distance in comparison to other players, so last week at the US Open I was fourth in distance. My goal was to try to get as close to first as I can right now this season by the end of the year. Just been trying to set little mini-goals like that with the stats. It's been a good goal of mine to try to increase that.
'I've watched way too many tournaments seeing Rory McIlroy just overpower golf courses and take bunkers out of play and there's a lot of talk about the ball rollback and other hot topics like that about golf course design and us players, certain players aren't playing courses how they're designed. But, for me as a player, I've got to take advantage of the opportunity to be able to do that.
'It's been really fun to try to train harder and be more conscious of swinging harder and trying to make golf as easy as possible because it's a very difficult game.'
Meanwhile, Griffin is ignoring Ryder Cup talk as aims to extend his stunning recent record. He's developed into a major contender week-on-week and enters Connecticut firmly in the mix for a spot in Keegan Bradley's United States side for Bethpage.
However, he's not looking beyond the moment and refusing to set targets as he said: 'I don't set goals related to winning or making a Ryder Cup. I won't set specific goals like that. But I'll set goals daily of what I kind of want to achieve on the day and also maybe on, like, a weekly basis of what maybe I need to work on mentally to be in a better frame of mind to play better, certain things like that.
'But nothing that compares me to other players. I won't set goals like that. I only set self goals that I can control. I'm feeling pretty good. My game is in a really good spot. I've had the results recently. It's really nice because this game can be very difficult from time to time, and you can have some good weeks that are maybe 20th. It's nice for me to see some high results in big events, just trying to continue to do the same things I've been doing, continuing to work hard and try to get back in the mix and get in contention again.
'I wasn't in the final group last week and was in my previous two starts, so try to get back into that mode. It's really fun to compete on Tour and be in the mix on Sundays.