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On a Sunday that he’ll remember for days to come, Ben Griffin stands tall with his third trophy of the year in hand. After a grueling final round under pressure, he grabbed a victory at the World Wide Technology Championship. Yet, he seemed calm throughout that hot pursuit. With controlled grit, the 29-year-old birdied every single par 3 on his route to victory. And speaking to the press after the match, Griffin revealed the secret behind his performance. “The par 3, my dad always calls me Mr. Par 3, so shout out, Dad,” he said. “I got off to a great start, honestly making some birdies. I feel like I’ve done that a lot in final rounds recently…But after making a few birdies early, I kind of pushed myself a little bit harder than the past few weeks.” That nickname — Mr. Par 3. — dates back a long way. Cowan Griffin, his dad, introduced Griffin to competitive golf through US Kids Golf Tournaments. He was always there for his son, caddying for him for years. Their life had been hard, with the recession hitting and them suffering a financial setback. Yet, Griffin’s parents never let their son take the brunt of it. “My parents did so much for me growing up. I know they sacrificed a lot for me,” he once said. ADVERTISEMENT Since then, he plays to make them proud, which often shows in his performance. At El Cardonal, Griffin turned a two-shot deficit into his triumph after closing it with a 9-under 63. His total at the end of the tournament was 29-under 259. A day before, he was tied third, and as Sunday rolled in, he felt the pressure from players like Chad Ramey and Sami Valimaki, but he eventually scraped through. Griffin birdied five straight holes between the 8th and 12th, his aggression visible through. “Fortunately, the putter heated up, made a lot of putts on the back nine,” he adds. “Yeah, it was fun feeling the nerves down the stretch trying to hold things off. It was nice to make a couple down the stretch.” ADVERTISEMENT Every one of the four par 3s at El Cardonal fell victim to his precision. And then, he gave an impressive tap-in birdie at the ninth. Eventually, he emerged as the champion after several long birdie putts. Ramey and Valimaki registered a T2, and Garrick Higgo a T4. The result looks all the more surprising when one remembers Griffin’s recent past. It was just a few years ago that he left golf to work as a loan officer because money was hard. That humbling experience made him what he is today. When he finally returned, he clawed his way back through Q-School in 2021, earning his Korn Ferry Tour card for 2022. And now, with this in Cabo, he has placed himself alongside some notable elites. ADVERTISEMENT Read Top Stories First From EssentiallySports Click here and check box next to EssentiallySports Ben Griffin joins Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy in elite club Ben Griffin’s name now sits alongside Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy as one of only three players to have won at least three PGA Tour victories in 2025. With the World Wide Technology Championship victory, he became the seventh player in the history of the PGA Tour to earn this feat. His previous wins were at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and the Charles Schwab Challenge. But his path to these wins is very different from his contemporaries. Scottie Scheffler had six wins this season, two of which were majors (PGA Championship and The Open), and McIlroy’s three victories had a Career Grand Slam (The Masters) included. Meanwhile, Griffin was able to secure this win, partially because notable people like Scheffler were absent from the field, something he admitted on his own recently. ADVERTISEMENT Still, he had other notable achievements in his bag this year to flaunt. He was one of Keegan Bradley’s captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup. Currently, he’s sitting at his career-best ranking of 9 in the world. A few years ago, all this would have looked impossible. But this resurrection has given one of the most compelling storylines of the season.
