Having officially joined the PGA Tour in 2023, Ben Griffin took a while to get going on the PGA Tour. It took him two years, to be exact, the same time Scottie Scheffler needed, to start winning titles. And in his first season on the Tour, he has already won three titles. Not only has the 29-year-old come off an incredible run in 2025, but he also became only the second guy after Scheffler to record three wins on the Tour this season. After his latest win in Mexico, Griffin shared how it wasn’t easy for him to get where he is today.

Speaking to Dan Rapaport on his podcast, Dan on Golf, the host asked him to give details about the financial crisis he faced that made him leave golf for a while. Griffin told Rapaport, “My friends at home give me so much crap. They tell me I was a mortgage loan officer out of the womb. Social media makes it seem like I was destined to be a loan officer. Then all of a sudden I got pulled into professional golf.”

Ever since he started finding rhythm on the PGA Tour, Griffin’s journey of becoming a loan officer before coming back to the PGA Tour has been the biggest talking point of his career. Many media outlets have indeed pushed the narrative that he was made for the role. That is likely because his dad was in the real estate business and his mom was in the mortgage industry. So it was easier to build the narrative around it. However, Griffin was already quite skilled as a golfer in college and at amateur level, winning three tournaments before he turned pro. He was always destined for success in the sport. But as the 30-year-old explained, life wasn’t fair to him when he was starting out.

“The landscape of professional golf is very, very difficult. The line is very thin. But yeah, I just had financial strain. $17,000, I think, is what my AMEX card was in the hole at. I had no money. So I stepped away. It wasn’t a long time. I stopped playing in end of March, beginning of April of 2021 and I was back to golf in August.” Due to a lack of sponsors and success early on, Griffin was taking the financial load of participating in every tournament. That accumulated to approximately a $17,000 debt, as he admitted. And the three-time PGA Tour champion needed a steady income to clear off his liabilities. But he didn’t take long to get rid of them.

During the process, he also earned the faith of the CEO of Lord Abbett. As Griffin revealed, “This wouldn’t be possible without Lord Abbett. The CEO, Doug Sieg, is the one who financially stepped up and said, ‘You’re good enough to play professional golf. I’m going to get you back and you’re going to be a PGA Tour winner and all this stuff.’ He’s the reason I’m playing professional golf. Because I actually would still be a loan… maybe I wouldn’t be a loan officer, but I would still be working without his backing, him putting up $100,000, $125,000 for me to play professional golf for two years and cover all my expenses. So I didn’t have to ask my parents for anything.”

Douglas B. Sieg and Ben Griffin played golf together, and the Lord Abbett CEO saw how good he was. He decided to back the 30-year-old by investing in him in 2021. That’s when the PGA Tour player really started his journey in professional golf. After that, there was no looking back for Griffin.

“When that happened, I realized I have this incredible opportunity that most people never get in their lives. I have to take advantage of it. I have to do the right things. I have to cut alcohol. I was drinking a little bit more back then. Cut alcohol out. Just focus on being a top professional golfer. And I got on the Korn Ferry Tour, got on the PGA Tour, and fast-forward a couple of years, and here we are, two-time winner.”

In 2021, Griffin joined the Korn Ferry Tour. By 2023, he fulfilled the promise he had made to Sieg and earned his PGA Tour card. Now, in 2025, he has captured two individual titles and one doubles title on the PGA Tour. Having only spent three years on the Tour, this is only the beginning of his story. There are many more dreams he still has to achieve as he tries to pay Lord Abbett back for the faith they had in him during the toughest period in his life.

Then what’s next for Ben Griffin? Let’s look at what his next goals would look like as he prepares for a new season of the PGA Tour.

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Ben Griffin’s next big challenge on the PGA Tour

Yes, Ben Griffin won three titles on the PGA Tour this year. But that is not the only thing he achieved throughout the season. Even in those tournaments that he didn’t win, the 30-year-old was quite consistent and impactful. Griffin managed to record nine more top-10 finishes this season. That included two runner-up finishes in The Memorial Tournament & the Procore Championship. On both occasions, it was Scottie Scheffler who beat him in the end. Two of his top-10s were also in two major events, the PGA Championship and the U.S. But as we mentioned, this is only the beginning of his story.

Considering his form and consistency, Griffin is only going to improve in 2026. He might aim to win a Signature event. He already recorded a runner-up in The Memorial Tournament this season. So he would certainly have the confidence to win the biggest paycheck in at least one of the $20 million tournaments. As he has already shown that he can perform at the biggest stages of golf, it won’t come as a surprise if he manages to pull off a surprise in a major next season. Ideally, after the year Ben Griffin has had, that should be his next goal. We’ll have to wait and watch what he does in 2026.