Q. How would you assess the day?
BEN GRIFFIN: Yeah, a couple water balls. Really need to go to the range and work on my game to clean that stuff up. But, no (laughing).
Yeah, it was an incredible day. Kind of building on what I kind of was doing last week, making a ton of birdies, staying aggressive. This is one of the toughest golf courses we play on TOUR and you've got to kind of be on your game to make birdies and give yourself a lot of looks. I felt like I kind of did that.
Couple tough holes there on 11 and 12, but, honestly, mentally I felt great, even after hitting it in the water on those holes. Still was attacking having a ton of fun with Shane. That was my first time playing with Shane, but I had a feeling me and his personalities would kind of match up, and we had an awesome time. Yeah, I guess nine -- or what, seven birdies and an eagle today? Yeah, it's pretty crazy. I think I'm still black out, so keep it going.
Q. How good was that finish, by the way, too, on 16 through 18?
BEN GRIFFIN: Yeah, I was just talking about it outside. I can't remember the last time I birdied the last three holes of a tournament. My dad always used to tell me, Par the first and last holes, and unfortunately, I birdied the first and the last, so (laughing). But it's always great to finish with a birdie and also -- I mean, the birdies on 16 and 17, those are some of the hardest holes out here. So proud of the way I stayed aggressive on those holes, attacked, never really was trying to play any sort of conservative shots, was just trying to keep the pedal down, and you got to take advantage of that on days like today where putts are dropping.
Q. How is the energy now after last week?
BEN GRIFFIN: This is nothing. I started out the year playing 13 events in a row. I mean, this is, I think, week six and it doesn't feel like much. Honestly, I feel great. Energy level's high. It's funny, I talked to a lot of my peers out here, and they don't understand how I do it. I think it's because do I a really good job resting on Mondays and Tuesday mornings. I don't really prepare for tournaments until pretty much Tuesday afternoons, unless it's a course that I'm not familiar with or maybe a major championship, I try to get a little extra prep in.
So I feel great. I'm excited for the rest of the week. Energy level's obviously high. It's got to be high coming off three birdies. I ran out of holes (laughing).
Q. You've played here twice before. What have you learned in those last two years playing?
BEN GRIFFIN: Yeah, I learned that it was really difficult the last two years. I had two missed cuts, kind of the last couple years, shooting mid 70s. I think physically I'm in a way better place right now, both with my golf swing and body-wise. I'm stronger, I'm able to take advantage of my length a little bit more. I used to not really hit it -- I was below average on TOUR. Now I'm definitely an above-average hitter, so I can take advantage of some of the longer holes that I used to have 7-, 6-, 5-irons in and now I'm having wedge and 9-iron. I had wedge into 17. I used to always have 6-irons into that hole.
Now hitting driver off that tee is a little bit aggressive, but when I'm swinging it great and I see my lines really well, I got to take advantage of that. So yeah, I mean, there's not really much I learned from the last two years. It's just more familiarity with the golf course. Now I'm flying it a little bit further in areas that are kind of new territory in a way, some of the par-5s a little bit further, can take out some bunkers.
I mean, 18, I just had sand wedge in. It's hard to believe. 137 yards on my second shot and there was enough downwind there for me to hit a sand wedge. Ultimately, came up short. Probably should have been a little smooth gap. But that's a hole I had 5-irons in, and I was coming from the rough. I wasn't hitting it as straight.
So it's been awesome to see my progress this year. I've invested a lot, both from a training standpoint, you know, and also having my coach there for me to keep my swing intact. So a lot of investments are kind of paying off.
Q. What's the biggest thing you've done maybe in the gym or in your training to gain that speed?
BEN GRIFFIN: Just working out every single day. You used to see guys on TOUR -- I mean, we probably shouldn't mention their names that much, whatever, but Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, some of those guys back when they were dominating the majors, they were in the gym every day pumping, like, doing dumbbell presses, and, like, bench press, stuff like that.
As a golfer, I never thought I necessarily needed to do that. I was more into the longevity of the game, staying flexible, feeling good. I had quad tendonitis in my left knee. That sparked up this past off-season. I was kind of training but wasn't doing a ton about it, was kind of more resting, and got to Pebble Beach and had some funky lies, and it was really messing me up. It was hard for me to hit bunker shots. I just had -- the tendonitis would flare up.
So that's when I met my now-trainer, Derek Smith. I was using him as a PT guy at first, just to try to alleviate some of my pain, and what I learned is I needed to strengthen it as much as possible. So at first, I was training just to be kind of healthy again. What I came to learn is I was starting to feel better, I was starting to feel stronger, I was starting to gain a little bit of speed, and I was like, man, if I keep this up, like, I can kind of, you know, continue to get higher and higher ball speeds, better prepare me for majors.
So one of my big goals was, actually -- going into the PGA at Quail was to get my ball speed with my driver to 190, which is not -- it wasn't really attainable, but in my head, I was thinking if I can take out the bunker on 16 off that tee, which is, like, a 325-yard carry, 330-yard carry, which Rory is notorious for flying over and having wedges into that hole, I was, like, if I can do that, it's going to save me a few shots, all of a sudden, this golf course is going isn't going to be as challenging.
And I don't think golf used to be this way. There's a lot of talk about the golf ball and the technology and how far it's going. And whether or not you like it or not, for me, I have to take advantage of the opportunity to hit it really far. And the last three, four months, I really kind of locked in on that, trying to gain speed -- trying to still maintain flexibility and mobility. I mean, it's important. I'm on the road every week, I'm flying, I'm driving cars, none of it is good for my body.
But doing a lot of maintenance, building strength, and, yeah, basically, just my kind of goal has been to swing harder, get, like, a mile-per-hour faster or so every week or two. And I've just been on this nice trajectory right now. I'm trying not to push it too much, but definitely conscious of trying to hit it a little bit further. And I think I swing better when I hit it harder. It's weird, I feel like when I'm swinging hard I'm actually like hitting it kind of straighter. It's funky. Golf's a weird sport, but here I am. I guess I'm an athlete now.
Q. You talked a lot about your journey this week, off the course too, losing your house, having to leave the game. Who do you credit the most for getting you through those low points?
BEN GRIFFIN: There's different people in all those moments. My parents were always there growing up, junior golf, making sure I had the access to continue to play golf, even when we had really difficult times. I don't know what my parents back accounts look like, but I can't imagine there was a comma, you know. We lost a lot. So, yeah, it was a lot of chipping and putting, as I mentioned in the previous interview. And that kind of, that short game helped me last week, it's helped me my whole career. And now Scottie's talked about it, when he first wanted to be on the PGA TOUR, he was excited about brand new range balls on the range, and for me kind of look getting into college and stuff was when I was actually able to hit a lot of range balls and didn't have to think about the financial aspect of it. So growing up, like, I mean, my parents were there for me all the way through, they have kind of helped me be who I am today. And so outside of that I've had several different people in terms of sponsors and others that have gotten me back to golf, so I got to credit Doug Sieg, the CEO of Lord Abbett, he's the main reason I'm here standing and playing golf. Like, I think without him I would still be working. On top of that Mike Swann, Jesse Ahern, the Highland Springs Country Club in Springfield, Missouri where they have a Korn Ferry Tour event, the Price Cutter event. There's a lot of support that I had had from those guys to get me mentally in a place where I felt like I was really good at golf, and also had some financial help from some of those people to get me back to golf, paying for my Q-School. And so there's so many, I, the list is honestly endless. I've had so much support in my career, I'm really extremely grateful and blessed. Not many people necessarily have those opportunities, and I'm so grateful that I had those, and also I've done the right things to take advantage of 'em and be in positions like I am now being a couple time TOUR winner now, shooting 65s at Memorial.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports