PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Lanto Griffin didn’t want any additional motivation, however the electronic mail that got here by his inbox on Wednesday evening didn’t damage.
After ending exterior the highest 150 in FedExCup factors this season, Griffin figured his standing for subsequent 12 months wouldn’t be nice. He was shocked, nevertheless, to learn that he didn’t have any assured Korn Ferry Tour begins in his again pocket.
“It sort of pissed me off,” Griffin stated.
So, what did Griffin do? He took his frustrations out on the sphere in PGA Tour Q-Faculty’s closing stage, capping his first journey to qualifying faculty in eight years with a blistering 7-under 63 on the Dye’s Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass to run away with medalist honors.
Griffin doesn’t have to fret about Korn Ferry Tour begins now.
He was one in all six gamers to earn full PGA Tour membership on this second 12 months of the most recent Q-Faculty iteration.
“When your again’s in opposition to the wall, you don’t have a selection,” Griffin stated. “Clearly, it may have gone a unique route this week for me, however my focus was good. The drive and every little thing continues to be there, and I actually didn’t need it to finish.”
Griffin’s Q-Faculty win marks his first victory, of any sort, since his maiden PGA Tour title on the 2019 Houston Open. Quite a bit has occurred since then – the ruptured disc in his decrease again in July 2022 and ensuing microdiscectomy that saved Griffin, No. 65 in factors on the time, out till the next January; marrying his longtime girlfriend, Maya, in December 2022, and welcoming their first little one, a daughter, earlier this fall; serving to his lifelong teacher, Steve Prater, construct a brand new indoor facility at Blacksburg Nation Membership; and changing into considerably of a spokesperson and public defender for the PGA Tour’s rank and file.
Griffin admits now that he got here again too early, even perhaps as a lot as six months untimely, and he struggled underneath the stress of competing on a medical extension. He didn’t publish a top-10 end final 12 months, and he had only one this season, on the ISCO Championship in July, earlier than shedding his card.
However he took confidence from making 9 consecutive cuts, and if he may simply begin making putts – he was No. 123 in strokes gained: placing this season – he’d don’t have any points regaining his place on the large tour.
The recent flatstick, because of a setup revelation on Monday morning, confirmed up this week as Griffin fired three rounds within the 60s, the one outlier a good 72 in brutal scoring circumstances Friday at Sawgrass Nation Membership. He opened Sunday’s closing spherical with an eagle and poured in 4 extra birdies earlier than the flip, permitting himself to cruise into the clubhouse for what could be a three-shot win over Hayden Buckley, one other former PGA Tour participant who’s seeking to bounce again from harm. Buckley tore a rib muscle two summers in the past, plummeted in strokes gained: off the tee (No. 10 to No. 90 this 12 months) and ended up two spots forward of Griffin in factors. Not like Griffin, although, Buckley didn’t have any begins on any tour afforded to him.
“A giant reduction,” stated Buckley, who put a brand new driver and 3-wood in play this week, which he capped with back-to-back 67s. “There was a time right this moment the place I felt it slipping away, however I had an incredible feeling this complete week from the second I stepped foot on the property. … There’s no secret I performed terrible this 12 months, however I knew I used to be so near taking part in good golf.”
