Chapel Hill golfer takes unlikely path to US Ryder Cup team

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- Four years ago, golf wasn't going in Ben Griffin's favor.

He was feeling burnt out.

Griffin returned home to Chapel Hill to work as a mortgage loan officer. One day, he found himself driving to the course instead of the office and decided to give going pro one more shot.

"I get chills thinking about it," said UNC head golf coach Andrew DiBitetto.

Griffin played for the Tar Heels from 2014 to 2018. He stepped away from the game during the spring of 2021, before going to Q School.

He played on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2022.

2023 was his rookie season on the PGA Tour.

He didn't win an event until 2025.

"I knew once I won, I was going to at least win another and continue to like get in the mix more and more because I knew there was going to be a monkey off my back and more self-belief," Griffin said.

Griffin won the Zurich Open with Andrew Novak in April. He finished tied for eighth at the PGA Championship. Then a week later, he won the Charles Schwab Challenge.

"This is probably going to change my career," Griffin said.

Griffin's breakthrough season earned him a captain's pick on the United States Ryder Cup team. He joins a U.S squad that includes Scottie Scheffler, J.J. Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley, Harris English, Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Cameron Young, Patrick Cantlay, and Sam Burns.

"It's just nuts putting myself in the same category as some of these other players that a year ago felt like they were so much more elite than I was," the 29-year-old said.

DiBitetto credits Griffin's unique journey and self-belief for getting him to the top of golf's game.

"I view it as like there's nothing that can happen to him on the golf course that is gonna rattle him or negatively impact him. Like he literally just keeps going one foot in front of the other," he said.

Griffin is the second Tar Heel and first since Davis Love III to be named to a Ryder Cup team.

"As a coach, you just want your guys to chase after their dreams," DiBitetto said.

Griffin says it's an honor to represent something bigger than himself.

"I don't know if it's truly sunk in," he said. "I'm so grateful and so excited for the opportunity."

The Ryder Cup begins on Friday at Bethpage Black in New York.