In a Ryder Cup packed with marquee names, perhaps the most unusual one for Team USA is a 29-year-old who quit golf in 2020, worked as a loan officer for a mortgage company, returned to eventually become one of the most consistent players on Tour this year and has recently been assigned the nickname “Benny Booms.”
Such is the whirlwind rise to the upper tier of golf for Ben Griffin.
But Griffin, the No. 11-ranked golfer in the world, embraced what he described as a breakthrough year. He didn’t avoid the need to golf and to keep golfing — for 13 consecutive weeks, when he originally planned for just six — because he kept playing well. He has collected the second-most finishes inside the top 10 in 2025 with 11, six behind No. 1-ranked Scottie Scheffler. Griffin won’t participate in the opening foursomes Friday morning, but when he eventually slots into a match, he’ll have a chance to shift some of the Ryder Cup spotlight toward one of its under-the-radar participants.
“Gradually got more and more momentum as the season kind of progressed,” Griffin said, “and continued to believe in myself and gained a ton of confidence every single week I played. … It was good to feel some of those nerves and get those feelings down the stretch because there’s no doubt I’m going to have some of those same feelings going into this week.”
He used the Korn Ferry Tour as a way to reach the PGA Tour in 2022, and while he didn’t necessarily feel intimidated by the top golfers, Griffin knew there was a separation between him — as a rookie — and the most established players. He needed to sit at the top of the leaderboard during tournaments in order to get paired with and meet them, too.
That has started to happen more in 2025. He narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Masters in April, but he secured his first title later in the spring at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and added another one in May at the Charles Schwab Challenge. And by the time Keegan Bradley made his captain’s picks for Bethpage, Griffin ended up as one of four rookies on Team USA’s 12-man roster.
He always knew he was close to the signature events. To the majors. He still has plenty of friends trying to break through on the Korn Ferry Tour and others trying to keep their PGA Tour card — a situation Griffin himself was in just earlier this year.
But this weekend, he’ll get introduced to perhaps the biggest stage in the sport. This weekend, he’ll continue producing proof to those golfers — maybe with some emotion materializing on the course, too — that they can eventually keep climbing the rankings, even if it seems unlikely.
“Mentally, you’re going through your rounds differently than you would in any other tour events,” Griffin said of the Ryder Cup. “Because of that, emotions are going to come up more often. That’s why everyone loves the Ryder Cup. And I’m sure I will have some great reactions out there. I hope to have a lot.”
