From loan officer to two-time PGA Tour winner: Ben Griffin wins Charles Schwab Challenge
Adam Schupak- Ben Griffin, a former loan officer, secured his second PGA Tour victory of the season at the 2025 Charles Schwab Challenge.
- Griffin's win comes after a brief retirement from professional golf during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It took just four weeks for Ben Griffin to go from never having won a PGA Tour title to becoming a two-time winner. On Sunday, he sank a nervy 4-foot putt at the last hole to close in 1-over 71 at Colonial Country Club, and claim the 2025 Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas, by one stroke over Matti Schmid.
Growing up, Griffin always dreamed of being a Tour winner. By the time he was 16, he was driving to tournaments solo and staying in hotels because both of his parents were working. “I’d tell the front desk, ‘Look, my dad is coming to check us in, don’t worry. He’s on a call and running behind. I just need a room key,’” he told Golfweek. “It worked every time.”
But during COVID-19, Griffin was stuck in golf’s minor leagues, mired in credit card debt and hung up his spikes to take a desk job as a mortgage-loan officer. But it didn’t take him long to realize his mistake.
“Calling it quits was probably one of the best things that he could’ve done because it made him want it more,” said Ryan Gerard, his college golf teammate at University of North Carolina. “He didn’t take it for granted.”
The rest of the PGA Tour may regret his decision as Griffin, 29, won for the second time this season. A month ago, Griffin and Andrew Novak won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. "Yeah, there's nothing to this game. It's easy," cracked Griffin.
He noted that he heard a chorus of naysayers that were discrediting his team victory as not a real win because of the team component.
"It's nice to I don't want to say silence the haters, but there's definitely some hate comments I got last night, and I used that as fuel today to get an individual win."
Griffin, who shot 63 in the second round, and Schmid pulled ahead from the field in the third round to turn it into a two-man race. Speaking on Saturday, Griffin explained his approach for the final round.
“The pedal is going to be down,” he said. “I'm excited to get back out there. You know, there's some birdie holes to start the round tomorrow. So excited to go at it and see what I can do.”
On a gusty final day, Griffin was good to his word, starting with a 15-foot eagle at the first and a birdie at the second. He stretched his lead to five strokes after just five holes as Schmid played his first six holes in 3 over. The birdies dried up for Griffin. Bogeys at six and seven on the front nine and Nos. 13 and 16 coming home trimmed his cushion to as little as one but Schmid was busy having his own rollercoaster round – six birdies, six bogeys, a double bogey and just five pars on the card – and couldn’t capitalize. He bogeyed 17 to give Griffin a two-stroke cushion going to the last hole, and his chip-in birdie left him one shy of Griffin, who signed for a 72-hole total of 12-under 268.
Bud Cauley shot 67 to finish third. One week after winning his third career major, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler shot 69 and finished fourth. “I think Friday probably hurt me in terms of winning this tournament,” said Scheffler, who posted 71 in the second round, “but overall three of the four days I played what I felt was pretty solid.”
Griffin was better than solid. He ranked third in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green and fourth for the week in Strokes Gained: Putting, which is usually a winning combination. But on the back nine Sunday, he had to rely on his vaunted short game to bail him out of trouble. "I'm proud of the way I scrambled down the stretch," he said. "The scrambling is what put me in this seat here today." Griffin showed off his touch around the green at the finishing hole, standing in a bunker and choking up on the steel to get up and down for the winning par after Schmid applied the pressure with his chip in.
"I was, like, All right, I guess have you to make this one now, as opposed to lagging it up there," Griffin said.
“He’s so good at chipping and putting. It would be hard for me to describe where I’ve seen him get up and down from,” his pal, Gerard, said. “He’ll be in jail and he’ll get away scot-free. He asked me to look at his putting stroke once and I was like, ‘I’m not doing that. You make everything.’ He’s starting to hit it a lot better, which is scary. He has a lot of confidence and you can see it in the way he walks and the way he carries himself.”