Ben Griffin finishes second at ACC men's golf championship

Walking off the green of the last hole of his final round at the ACC Championships, North Carolina’s Ben Griffin knew that his tournament was far from over.

The 21-year-old Chapel Hill native had made it through three rounds, including a grueling 36 hole final day, but the hardest part was yet to come: the wait. Griffin knew the wait was coming, he had teed off an hour before the other leaders, but that didn’t make it any easier.

“I just tried to stay calm,” he said, “tried to keep the same mindset that there might be a playoff, tried not to get my mind too far off golf.”

Just one day earlier, Griffin had started off the tournament in perfect fashion, taking advantage of ideal playing conditions to fire a 5-under par 67 in round one, including a stellar 32 on the front nine (his second nine of the day).

With rain in the forecast for Sunday, tournament officials made the decision to move the final round to Saturday, leaving the players faced with a daunting 36 hole final day. However, Griffin remained unfazed.

“I knew it was going to be draining, but I’ve been doing it all year. Going in I knew it was going to be a long day.”

Griffin’s good form continued in the second round, as he put together a solid 1-under par 35 on his opening nine. His second nine was more up and down, but he managed to birdie his final hole to post a 2-under par 70 for the round, leaving him alone in first place.

He was two strokes ahead of his nearest competitors, and 18 holes away from his first individual tournament win in over two years, at the ACC championships no less.

But in the final round, he stumbled out of the gate. Four bogeys in his first eight holes left his medalist hopes hanging by a thread. He needed a rally on the final nine holes of the tournament.

Luckily for him, he got one. He birdied his 12th, 14th, and 15th holes to claw back into the lead. He dropped a shot on the second to last hole, but his final round 74 kept his hopes for the trophy alive.

Then, the wait came. An agonizing 90 minutes during which he could only watch on helplessly, hoping that he’d get another chance. Finally, it came, after the other leaders could only match his 5 under par total. The tournament would be decided in a four-way playoff.

Griffin made his way back to the 18th tee, along with Wake Forest’s Paul McBride, Virginia’s Jimmy Stanger, and Clemson’s Bryson Nimmer.

“Four way playoffs are always tough,” he said. “You know you’re going to need a birdie.” A wayward drive dented his hopes of achieving that score, but he was able to put his approach shot just off the green, giving himself an outside chance. Meanwhile, Virginia’s Stanger set himself up with a makeable birdie putt.

“It was a nerve-wracking situation,” head coach Andrew Sapp said after the round. “We were trying to fight darkness, it was a four man playoff… but it was an exciting atmosphere. [Griffin] handled it extremely well.”

Knowing that he was faced with what could be a must-make shot, Griffin stepped up to his ball. He chipped it onto the green and watched it slide narrowly by the hole. All he could do was watch as Stanger drained his birdie putt to clinch the title.

Despite coming up short, Griffin was pleased with what was his best finish this season — tied for second at the ACC Golf Championship.

“Every tournament I’ve gotten some takeaways,” he said after the round. “I’m just continuing to build towards the end of the season. [This week] was huge for me both for confidence and a bit of learning… I’m confident in my game and excited to finally see the results.”

Griffin and the rest of the UNC team, which finished tied for seventh overall, will find out on May 4th which NCAA regional qualifier they will be playing in.

“He’s really starting to peak at the right time,” Sapp said of Griffin. “It’s awesome to see his hard work and dedication pay off for him.”

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