One of the best golf stories of the year just got even better.
Ben Griffin, a former loan officer who last month locked up a PGA Tour card for next season by clinching his spot among the top 25 in regular-season Korn Ferry Tour points, was playing a casual round Saturday at Sea Island Golf Club’s Plantation Course. And he capped it with the ultimate bang.
Playing his final hole of the afternoon, the 26-year-old needed to hole out on his second shot from 155 yards for a 59 — and he did the unthinkable.
“Haven’t blacked back in yet. Wild,” Griffin tweeted shortly after his heroic shot.
Roughly a year ago, Griffin retired from golf and became a mortgage loan officer following five consecutive missed cuts on the PGA Tour Latinoamérica.
But after several months away from competition, the former All-American at UNC was invited to play in a member-guest at Highland Springs Country Club. A few weeks after, club members paid for him to play the KFT’s Price Cutter Charity Championship’s Monday qualifier. He qualified for the event shortly after his grandfather passed away. Afterward he inked an endorsement deal and was all-in again on his professional golf career.
That move has paid dividends — big time. Griffin earned KFT status last year at Q-School and then notched Tour status after falling in a playoff at last month’s BMW Charity Pro-Am (his third runner-up of the season).
Now, Griffin can add a miraculous 59 to his fairytale year.