Jack Hirsh
Scott Taetsch/Getty Photographs
Lanto Griffin performed “pissed off” this week.
On Wednesday, after his second-consecutive down yr on the PGA Tour, he was advised he wouldn’t have any standing on the Korn Ferry Tour, however by Sunday none of it mattered.
Griffin fired a final-round seven-under 63 on Dye’s Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass at PGA Tour Q-College to earn medalist honors and his PGA Tour card for the 2025 season. 5 different golfers will be a part of him as six golfers completed the week at 4 below or higher with the highest 5 gamers and ties incomes PGA Tour membership.
It’s Griffin’s first win worldwide since his rookie season on the PGA Tour, when he triumphed on the 2019 Houston Open, however his sport had fallen off within the years since.
After a stable run of sustained success the place he completed inside the highest 100 of the FedEx Cup factors listing three years in a row earlier than a again harm knocked him out of motion in the summertime of 2022.
His comeback in 2023 and 2024 resulted in only one top-10, and misplaced him full-time standing on the PGA Tour, however that wasn’t what pissed him off this week at Q-College.
Griffin performed out of the previous champion class this previous season and earned 22 begins, however nonetheless completed 158th within the FedEx Cup Fall standings, a methods off the highest 125 mark wanted to maintain his card for 2025.
Then on Wednesday, he realized he wouldn’t have any assured begins on the Korn Ferry Tour subsequent season if he wished to re-earn his card that manner.
“That e-mail Wednesday evening that I wasn’t going to even have assured Korn Ferry Tour begins, that was— it sort of pissed me off, ticks me off,” he mentioned Sunday. “In order that was a little bit chip on— you realize, me and my psychological coach have been speaking about enjoying with a chip in your shoulder, being an athlete. Doesn’t actually matter what it appears like. Yeah, that was the aim popping out right here this week and compete as arduous as I can.”
On Sunday evening, as he spoke to members of the media, the mission was achieved.
After three rounds at Sawgrass Nation Membership and Dye’s Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass, Griffin went off Sunday, beginning the day in eighth place and rocketing up the leaderboard to complete three pictures forward of anybody else.
“I assume when your again’s towards the wall you sort of simply should— you don’t have a selection,” he mentioned, “Clearly it might have gone a special route this week for me, however my focus was good.
“Right now was big for my confidence. I’ve quite a lot of confidence in my sport, however I haven’t received since again surgical procedure. Right now on the again 9 your thoughts’s racing one million miles an hour. You may make three bogeys and nonetheless get in, it’s like I haven’t received a event since ’19, it’s been 5 years.
“You understand, it might be fairly cool to win Q-College, and with the ability to win Q-College with 156 actually good gamers on two arduous golf programs is a big accomplishment for me and I’m tremendous pleased with that.”
Listed here are the 5 different gamers who will be a part of Griffin on the PGA Tour in 2025
Hayden Buckley: Had been on the PGA Tour for the previous two seasons however fell out of the Prime 125 after recording simply two top-10s in 2024.
Takumi Kanaya: A seven-time Japan Tour winner who has already performed in 11 main championships. Was a former World No. 1 novice and was ranked as excessive as No. 49 within the Official World Golf Rating in 2022.
Alejandro Tosti: PGA Tour rookie in 2024 who made headlines for a few of his big (and daring) tee pictures, in addition to a few of his less-than-rosey antics.
Will Chandler: Might be a PGA Tour rookie in 2025 and fired a final-nine 30 Sunday to earn a spot. Superior from the second stage of Q-College after logging solely 10 occasions on the Korn Ferry Tour this season and 9 PGA Tour Canada occasions in 2023.
Matthew Riedel: Former standout at Vanderbilt College who graduated this spring and earned standing on the Korn Ferry Tour by means of PGA Tour Q-College. That additionally put him straight into the ultimate stage of Q-College this week.
Notables who did not Qualify
Nick Watney
Adrien Dumont de Chassart
S.Y. Noh
Austin Smotherman
Tommy Gainey
Christo Lamprecht
Pierceson Coody
Doc Redman
Hank Lebioda
Austin Cook dinner
James Nicholas
Robby Shelton
Sangmoon Bae
Justin Suh
Joseph Bramlett
Carl Yuan
Chez Reavie
Sean O’Hair
Norman Xiong
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Jack Hirsh
Golf.com Editor
Jack Hirsh is the Affiliate Tools Editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State College, incomes levels in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his highschool golf group and not too long ago returned to this system to function head coach. Jack additionally nonetheless *tries* to stay aggressive in native amateurs. Earlier than becoming a member of GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but additionally producing, anchoring and even presenting the climate. He might be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com.