Ben Griffin and Michael Kim have taken three weeks off all year round.
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Ben Griffin is this season on a Sungjae IM-like streak, which has played open every week since the Sony.
The reason why? He wants to play the masters.
“It has always been a child’s dream to play in the masters,” Griffin said in an interview with Golf week Open before the Texas Children’s Houston of this week. “And it would be very cool to end a good start to the season this week with Augusta, too. That would let me take off next week, prepare me for Augusta, play there and then see where the rest of the season brings me.”
Griffin, in his third season on the PGA Tour, is the best start of his young career, after he has already earned three top 10s, including back-to-back T4s in the Mexico Open and Cognizant Classic. After the knowledge, Griffin was a career-high 48th in the official world golf ranking, but has fallen to 53rd with back-to-back missed cuts among the players and Valspar.
That is important because the top 50 players in the OWGR earn invitations for the Masters after this week. Girffin has never played in the first major of the year, so he benefits from his solid game to start the season and plays as much as he can.
“I dreamed of playing on the PGA tour since I was a small child,” said Griffin, “and I try to play in as many tournaments as possible. But if I now asked my 16-year-old myself, if I had a place in the Houston, I would play, I would say:
“It’s fun. I don’t mind. I still feel fresh, even though it is week 12. I will continue as long as I have to. I think that’s great.”
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Griffin is not only in making a push for the masters. Michael Kim also plays every week since the Sony-with the exception of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Kim has become the world until 52, while he has been looking for his first trip to Augusta since 2019.
Kim has become one of the stars of Golf Twitter in recent years and his game has finally started to realize that hype with a T2 finish on the WM Phoenix Open and two other top 10s, including one at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, a characteristic event.
“I really run on vapors on this point haha,” he wrote earlier this week on Twitter. “Back and neck doesn’t feel great and really ready for a free time. But! I have another chance to qualify for the masters. I probably need a top 20 to get a place. At the moment I will be happy with or without the week, but I want to give myself the chance.”
