It was back in 2018, when Benjamin Griffin turned professional in the sport, right after graduating. That very year, young Griffin even started playing for the PGA Tour Canada. But life then decided to take a sharp turn. His family faced a financial crisis, which foced ‘Benny Booms’ to step away from the greens. The 25-year-old star from Chapel Hill never thought he would be able to make a comeback. However, life had different plans.

Griffin had an impeccable run this season. Securing three wins and two Major top-10 finishes, his performance helped him jump to a career-high rank of 9th under the Official World Gold Ranking. This was a reward of sorts as the journey wasn’t a cake walk for the 29-year-old. Griffin, along with his father, Cowan Griffin, appeared in the PGA Tour documentary titled The Life: Ben Griffin. And there, Griffin’s dad, opened up about the struggle that they had to fight as a family. 

“We had two sons, and Ben immediately sort of picked up the game. He had that golf bug where that’s what he wanted to do… golf was his haven”, shared the father. Ben was introduced to Golf when he was a little boy of and he seemingly got it from his grandfather. “My grandpa played a huge role not only in junior golf and college golf. Without my grandpa, my dad wouldn’t have learned the game”, shared Ben. 

Ben Griffin began his journey in the sport at Chapel Hill of North Carolina. Griffin expressed his admiration for his birthplace and said, “Chapel Hill will always be home to me. That’s where I spent almost every single minute of my life from when I was zero to 22.” However, life threw a fireball at them. 

“I started really playing golf when I was 10, 11, until the housing crisis hit. 2008 was an interesting time. Both my parents were having great careers up to that point. My dad on the real estate side, my mom on the mortgage side. And so the housing crisis hit our family harder than any other family”, Griffin shared. His father further revealed, “It was a tough situation for us because immediately, I had to get rid of the home we were in. Basically, cut back on stuff that wasn’t essential. He was smart enough to understand that, you know, his parents were struggling a little bit and things weren’t exactly perfect and he was rolling with it and saying we can adapt.”

Ben had to move from Chapel Country Club to the public golf course, Finley, to make sure that he was helping his family to tackle the financial crunch they were going through. However, Ben Griffin made sure that his calibre spoke louder than any setback. “I saw the struggles my parents went through and I know how much they were investing in me,” he said. His father added, “People don’t have any idea how much resources are really needed for a player to perform at the highest level.” So, in 2021 Ben again stepped back from the greens. “I knew I was done. I did not want to touch a club for a while”, Ben said.

Sharing the reason behind his decision, he said, “It’s hard to play really good golf when you see your credit card statement at $70,000 in debt on top of my dad paying for my rent”. Griffin started working as a loan official for a mortgage group in North Carolina. But that’s when Doug Seig of Lord Abbet came in. “You’re basically throwing away money trying to make it. Lo and behold, God came down and blessed him with Doug Seig. I met Doug in the fall of 2020,” added Griffin. Notably, Lord Abbet is one of the oldest money management establishments in the United States of America.

Seig shared, “He [Ben Griffin] didn’t at all talk about the struggles he was having or anything from there. I could sort of tell how hard it was.” He added, “I was open to the idea. We never sponsored an athlete or anything like that. A lot of us love the game of golf. It’d be fun to sort of help somebody who needs help, and Ben sort of checked all those boxes.” 

That’s how Ben Griffin was back again in the field he loved the most. And since then, life has been different for him. Recently, his life saw another twist that prevented him from playing in Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge. But surprisingly, he wasn’t too sad about it.

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Ben Griffin explains funny reason why he missed the Hero World Challenge 

As the golfing season came to an end, the top-20 golfers came down to the Hero World Challenge to earn some easy world-ranking points. Surprisingly, Ben Griffin’s name was nowhere to be found on the list. Immediately, speculations surfaced, and fans wondered what could be the possible reason for his absence. Griffin soon came up with a solid but funny answer justifying his absence. 

Speaking with Front Office Sports, Griffin elaborated that there was no news of the Hero World Challenge when he planned his wedding. Thus, with no other option left, the US golfer had to step back from the tournament. Reflecting on the same, the 29-year-old PGA Tour pro said, “If I have a bad year, I’m gonna have to go to Q School.”

“It’s a bummer to not be able to play in the Hero,” Griffin further added. “But I’m honestly so excited.” Surely, while he did miss out on the opportunity to make his impressive golf season even better, it looks like it was all worth it. After all, happiness in life must always come first.