Ben Griffin is beyond thrilled by his first professional win at the Staal Foundation Open.
The Chapel Hill, North Carolina resident says he feels blessed to have won by just one point, finishing with a record 22-under 266.
That beats the record set by Staal winners J.J. Spaun in 2015 and Taylor Moore in 2016.
“To finish with three straight birdies to win by one was pretty neat,” 22-year-old Griffin admits, “I can’t believe I did it, I was just kind of plugging along, not trying to look at too many leaderboards,”
Griffin also got a surprise when his father Cowan flew from North Carolina to Minneapolis, then drove seven hours to be in Thunder Bay to cheer him on for the tournament’s final day.
“He texted me good morning [on Sunday] a little earlier than he normally does, so I had a feeling he was potentially coming to support,”
He says he’s feeling “a lot of emotions, but it was pretty cool to have him here celebrating with me.”
He’s hopeful it will put him in a good position to play in the Web.com PGA Tour next year.
Canadian Riley Wheeldon lost to Griffin by one stroke but he isn’t letting a second-place finish keep him down.
He feels his 21-under-267 score was his best performance this year, but admits there were plenty of other good players at Whitewater Golf Club.
“You can’t coulda-shoulda-woulda it,” he points out, “I cleaned up the scorecard, no bogies. I had a couple bogies and a double early in the tournament that I was able to clean up today, and I just fell one short by the end of it.” (Photos/Video: Colin Redston)
Ben Griffin wins the @StaalOpen with a birdie this afternoon at #Tbay Whitewater Golf Club, finishing with 22 under-par. pic.twitter.com/n3qQXHyzXK
— @country105news (@Country105News) July 16, 2018
Despite coming up a shot short, the solo second place finish at the @StaalOpen is Riley Wheeldon’s best event on the @PGATOURCanada since he won the Syncrude Boreal Open in 2013 pic.twitter.com/J510CjXPIL
— Mackenzie Tour (@PGATOURCanada) July 15, 2018