It’s hard to follow the Chapel Hill golf scene without hearing the name Ben Griffin. The East Chapel Hill High alumnus played four years at UNC, helping to take a middling program to new heights (“We really weren’t good at all,” he said). Griffin achieved All-America status as a Tar Heel before graduating in 2018. He appeared to be on track to do big things on the PGA Tour.
But the complete shutdown of sports due to the pandemic changed Griffin’s plans. Without the ability to play golf professionally, Griffin didn’t have a steady income. He chose to step away from the game completely and work for Corporate Investors Mortgage Group in Chapel Hill as a loan officer. His mother Erika also works there.
“I wasn’t making any money,” Griffin told Chapelboro. “I wasn’t able to pay my own rent without help from parents, and health insurance, whatever it might be. I was 24, 25 at the time and I was like, it’s a point in my life where I don’t want to have to rely on my parents for anything.”
And while working as a loan officer was far from his ultimate career goal, Griffin worked just as hard as he would have at Augusta. His father, Cowan Griffin, is the president of Carolina Realty in Chapel Hill, and said he was amazed at how quickly Ben took up his work at CIMG.
“He went all-in on getting his mortgage license,” Cowan said of his son. “It shocked me that he passed every test exponentially quick. I don’t even know how you get your license that quickly. But he did, and he went straight to work. I think he was able to compartmentalize, to step away from golf and do what he was doing.”
Still, Griffin was scheduled to play in a U.S. Open Qualifier tournament before the shutdown hit. When sports slowly started coming back that summer, Griffin said he still wanted to compete in the qualifier, since he’d already paid for it. CIMG allowed him to play in the tournament, where Griffin very nearly won. Cowan said that tournament – along with being named as a second alternate to the U.S. Open this summer – was Ben’s epiphany.
“I’m sure it gave him goosebumps, to be out there and to see these great players, and that he was there!” Cowan said. “And that maybe he was meant to be there. Maybe this break was just what he needed. And I think that was really key to him coming back and telling me, ‘I’ve still got it. I’ve still really got it, dad.’”
But perhaps no moment proved that more than a legendary round of golf in Georgia this past July. Playing with some friends in Sea Island, Griffin shot a 59 over 18 holes, capped off by a 155-yard shot to hole out.
“Not many people can say they’ve shot 59,” said Griffin. “I think Tiger’s done it once in his life, and there’s a select few other guys on the PGA Tour that have done it. It was one of the most surreal experiences to hole out. 155 yards from the fairway is a shot that you’re not expecting to make. I actually hadn’t holed out a shot from that far in quite a long time.”
More recently, Griffin had one of his best professional tournaments ever, finishing fourth at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro earlier this month. The Wyndham has been played since 1938, and this year’s field featured PGA stars Will Zalatoris, Rickie Fowler and Stewart Cink. Cowan and the rest of Ben’s family were there to celebrate.
“It was somewhat of a family affair,” Cowan said. “It was exciting. A little nerve-wracking at times. But it turned out to be shocking, unbelievable. I mean, to have Jim Nantz calling out your name is pretty special.”
Now, just a couple years after working as a loan officer, Griffin will be competing on the PGA Tour against the best golfers in the world in the 2022-23 season. At just 26 years old, it’s easy to see why Cowan believes the sky’s the limit for his son. Ben, meanwhile, is understandably a little busier now than he was at CIMG. The former All-American has made stops in Idaho and Ohio just in the past two weeks. But Ben said it’s all part of the world of golf, a world he intends to stay in for good this time.
“There’s always a lot on my plate, but I love every minute of it,” he said. “If you don’t love it, it’s gonna be a hard profession for you to be good at.”
Featured image via Tim Cowie Photography
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our biweekly newsletter.
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines