OAKMONT, PENNSYLVANIA | The thing about life-changing events is how they can seem, at the moment, like just another part of another day.
When Ben Griffin tees off at 7:29 a.m. Thursday in the first round of the U.S. Open at Oakmont, he will be the 15th-ranked player in the world, having won two of his last six starts with a runner-up finish to Scottie Scheffler most recently at the Memorial Tournament.
Griffin is on the hot list as a potential U.S. Ryder Cup team member and he bears watching at Oakmont because of his current form and the top-to-bottom consistency in his game.
None of which would likely be the case were it not for Doug Sieg asking Griffin and a friend to join him and his ninth-grade daughter, Taylor, to play nine holes at Sea Island in early 2021.
It was a matter of convenience and nothing else.
The golf course was booked and Griffin had nowhere to play until Sieg, a New Jersey-based wealth management executive on vacation at the Georgia resort, invited Griffin and his friend to join them.
They enjoyed each other’s company and later, when Sieg was talking with Sea Island fitness guru Randy Myers about his day, Myers suggested Griffin might be the player he should consider sponsoring if Sieg was serious about investing in a professional golfer.
Sieg filed the idea away and headed home, unaware that Griffin was weeks away from quitting professional golf, exhausted by the emotional grind of unsuccessfully trying to build a career that had little to show for it beyond the $17,000 balance due on his credit card.
Griffin returned home to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to eventually embark on his new career as a mortgage loan officer. It lacked the glamour of professional golf but it came with a regular paycheck and a sense of security.
“When I was working I never had any intention of going back. I was done. Mentally, I was out of it completely. I wanted to live a normal life.” – Ben Griffin
“The odds were so stacked against me. I am a realist. I could see it and it didn’t make any sense for me to play pro golf,” Griffin said.
“When I was working I never had any intention of going back. I was done. Mentally, I was out of it completely. I wanted to live a normal life.”
A month after Griffin quit golf, Sieg called. They talked about Griffin’s decision and Sieg offered to sponsor him. Griffin politely thanked him and said he wanted to pursue his new career.
“He was not in the best of spirits but had his mind made up he was leaving golf and his dream was over. It was a pretty tough conversation,” Sieg said.
Should you change your mind, Sieg told Griffin, you have my number.
There’s a joke about a person who died in a flood arriving in heaven and asking God why he hadn’t answered his prayers to be saved. God responds by saying he sent three rescue canoes past the man’s house and he waved them all off. How many signs do you need, God asked.
Ben Griffin understands.
One day in the summer of 2021, having not swung a club in a month, Griffin accepted an invitation to play a member-guest event at Highland Springs Country Club in Missouri, where he shot 63 on his own ball. The friends he made there pushed him to reconsider his decision.
“In August, (Griffin) called me back and said I’m going to win on the PGA Tour. I told him that was the second time he called with something crazy.” – Doug Sieg
Around that same time, Griffin pulled into the parking lot at the University of North Carolina’s Finley Golf Club where he had played for the Tar Heels’ men’s golf team. Griffin had been on the way to his office near the course and, dressed for work rather than golf, realized his mistake when he parked his car. Old habits, you know.
Not long after that, Griffin’s grandfather Douglas Griffin passed away and the mantra he shared with his grandson – “hit them long and straight” – showed up in the obituary and stayed with Griffin.
Signs, signs, everywhere a sign.
“In August, (Griffin) called me back and said I’m going to win on the PGA Tour. I told him that was the second time he called with something crazy,” Sieg said.
Griffin flew to New Jersey soon after and stayed at Sieg’s house. They played Baltusrol together and Sieg remembers Griffin making nine birdies in 11 holes on his way to a 65 after being 4-over par early.
They talked about the future and Sieg agreed to fund Griffin’s second act but with a caveat – he wanted to bankroll him for more than one year.
“I told him I don’t want you to worry about what [he] was going to do next year. I said if it doesn’t work out, that’s fine and if it does and the biggest brands want to be on your sleeve, that’s fine, too,” said Sieg, CEO of Lord Abbett, which manages more than $200 billion in assets and whose name adorns the front of Griffin’s shirts now.
One year later, Sieg and three of his associates were in Omaha, Nebraska, when Griffin locked up his PGA Tour card through the Korn Ferry Tour, a remarkable career resurrection and a prelude to what was to come.
“The reality is the kid is a star. He works hard. He’s incredibly talented and he just needed confidence,” Sieg said.
Less than four years later, Griffin has indeed become a star and not just because of the aviator sunglasses he wears to protect his eyes, an accessory that adds to his recognition factor.
When Griffin teamed with Andrew Novak to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in April, it validated the work and self-belief. When Griffin followed that by making the Charles Schwab Challenge his first individual tour victory, he had fully arrived.
“I always had the belief I was going to do it … you can’t get distracted, just get a little better every day,” Griffin said.
“Now I’m teeing it up and feel like I should win every time. Whether it’s realistic or not, that’s how I feel. It’s wild.”
“My dreams were completely gone. Once I came back I brought those dreams back into my life and said let’s do it. Now I can say this is pretty special. I feel there is so much more in the tank for me.” – Ben Griffin
When Griffin decided to restart his career, he made a list of what to do and what not to do.
Second chances don’t always come along and Griffin was determined not to waste his. He finished second three times in his one year on the Korn Ferry Tour and Griffin has steadily improved on the PGA Tour, breaking into a new orbit this year.
Some of it has to do with an aggressive training program designed to increase his strength, shifting from a program centering on flexibility. The rest of it has come from within.
“My dreams were completely gone. Once I came back I brought those dreams back into my life and said let’s do it. Now I can say this is pretty special. I feel there is so much more in the tank for me,” Griffin said.
Though he has a team around him, Griffin sees himself as a one-man business. For that reason, he’s frugal on the road and he’s always on the road.
He played 13 consecutive weeks at one point this year, made somewhat easier by the fact he and his fiancée are remodeling their future home in Jupiter, Florida. During those 13 weeks, Griffin went home twice for two days at a time and he hasn’t had a home-cooked meal since December because the kitchen has been gutted.
No worries. Griffin loves the adventure in part because he almost never had it.
“A lot of people discredit my story. They hear it and say is it true? It’s all true,” Griffin said.
“I met Doug and he changed the landscape of my professional career. It’s pretty nuts.
“There’s no other story close to it in sports. I’m the prop that’s living in it and reaping the benefits. I’m so blessed and grateful for everyone.”
And for that fortuitous moment at Sea Island four years ago.