It Was a Pleasure to Watch Ben Griffin on Thursday—Here's Why

Ben Griffin has had a love-hate relationship with TPC Deere Run in his career, granted, it’s a small sample size. He missed the cut a year ago, but used a final-round 62 in 2024 to finish in a tie for fifth.

That boom-bust tendency continued during the opening round of the John Deere Classic, but to the World No. 16’s credit, he fought like hell to finish on the right side of par.

During the morning hours in Silvis, Illinois, Griffin began his day on the par-5 10th, but walked away with a par. He then stuffed an approach into 11 and made birdie, but gave the shot right back at 12. The real adventure, however, came at 14.

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On the drivable par 4, Griffin lost his tee shot way right and found a horrible spot littered with fescue and bushes. He launched his second into the hazard left of the green, took a drop, dumped it into the left greenside bunker, skulled one across the green, pitched it to nine feet, missed the putt, and tapped in for a comfy quadruple-bogey eight.

Get all that? If not, watch every shot here (it’s worth your time, trust me):

But then he got to work.

Eagle at 17 before making the turn, birdies on one and two, and two more at six and seven—*gestures up and down with hands*—to sign for a 2-under 69. The winning score at the JDC annually comes in somewhere in the low-teens, so he could have laid down and quit. It was a joy to watch him battle back. It’s just a bonus he ended up beating both his playing partners: Jordan Spieth (1 under) and Jackson Koivun (2 over).

Griffin still has plenty of work to do over the next three days if he wants to win his fourth PGA TOUR event. Lucas Glover and Zac Blair were tied for the lead at 8 under when the afternoon wave went out.

We’ll see if Griffin is able to carry that momentum into Friday.

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