“I was honestly $20,000 in debt by the time I returned to the Korn Ferry Tour,” says Griffin, now 29 and a three-time winner on the PGA Tour, in an exclusive interview with Kingdom. “On the mini tours, you are betting on yourself, and that is what you have to do in golf, unlike other sports. Just trying to qualify for the Korn Ferry Tour, you have to pay $5,000 or more in entry fees, travel costs are high, a lot of guys couch surf when they can, and on top of that, you have to pay for practice rounds and cart fees, rental cars, and meals. You can get to $17,000 of debt in a month, easily.”

The Korn Ferry Tour is owned and operated by the PGA Tour, and it is one step down from the promised land. Golf fans see the millions of dollars earned by the top players at the top level, but for those lower down the chain, traveling on tour and missing cuts is financially brutal. Even making cuts frequently does not guarantee you can cover costs.

Griffin first turned professional in 2018, after setting a career scoring record—72.02 per round—at his hometown college, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He made a bright start on the PGA Tour Canada that year and won his seventh start, but then inconsistency began to plague him and missed cuts started to become more regular. In 2019, he made just three cuts from 12 starts across the PGA Tour Canada and Korn Ferry Tour. His prize money for the season totaled $3,808.

“In golf, things can change fast,” reflects Griffin. “You have to back yourself early on, and coming out of college, I don’t necessarily think I had the belief.”

In a chance meeting with Doug Seig at Georgia’s Sea Island Resort, Griffin found someone who believed in him. Seig is CEO and managing partner of Lord Abbett, a privately held investment management company, and having struck up a friendship with Griffin, he offered to sponsor his return to tour.

“When I decided to go back on tour, I had the support of Doug Seig and Lord Abbett financially, to get rid of that debt,” explains Griffin, who returned to the Korn Ferry Tour in the fall of 2021. “Doug is the reason I was able to get rid of those financial pressures and focus on playing, and to think about winning every time I teed it up. I play my best golf when I am freed up and loose and having fun, and most people say the same. Some people say that playing under pressure is a privilege, but how about we eliminate some of those pressures? I am going to pull off some pretty good shots if those pressures are not there and if golf feels like it did when I was a kid.

“It has been a crazy journey, and I have seen it all,” Griffin continues, “and that has allowed me to have the perspective that I do today.”

A strong six months on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2022, including a trio of runner-up finishes, earned Griffin promotion to the PGA Tour. After two years finding his feet under the bright lights, with vindicating top-10 finishes some weeks, crushing missed cuts in others, Griffin broke through spectacularly in 2025.

Last April, at the age of 28 and in his 90th start on the PGA Tour, Griffin partnered Andrew Novak to victory in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. His second win of the season followed just a month later, this time a solo effort at the Charles Schwab Challenge. Before he knew it, this golfer who had never represented the United States in team golf as an amateur or a professional was a captain’s pick for the U.S. Ryder Cup team.

Finally, last November, Griffin closed out 2025 with near perfection, shooting 65-66-66-63 to claim the World Wide Technology Championship by two shots and setting the event’s 72-hole scoring record in the process. Only two other golfers won three times or more on the PGA Tour last year: Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.

Griffin finished 2025 ranked eighth in the world—and having earned $11,724,352 in prize money for the year. He and his wife, Dana, bought a house in golf-centric Jupiter Island, Florida, although they spent most of the year moving between hotels and a studio apartment while their new home was being renovated.

“The studio had a bed, a bathroom, an air fryer, and a fridge, and I built a stand-up closet from Ikea for all our clothes, and our suitcases had to go under a table,” shares Griffin. “We couldn’t do our own laundry for about seven months, so we would either go to [PGA Tour golfer] Ryan Gerard’s house close by or do hotel laundry on the road.

“I had my putting mat in there with about eight putters leaning on the side. When we ate, we either sat on the bed or ate standing up. It was crazy. Not many PGA Tour pros were living a life like mine last year. It was very interesting, but I appreciate journeys more than anything, so I actually enjoyed it. You’d have to ask Dana if she did, too.”

Augusta at Last

This year should bring some peace of mind—and place—for Griffin. He has the security of a permanent residence, he has financial security, and he has job security, too, with his PGA Tour exemption assured until the end of 2029. “I am trying to let things happen and want to continue to build,” he says. “It’s not like I am even sitting back and thinking about how cool it was last year. I am not thinking about it as a year, but I am looking at my career as a whole journey, and I am only just getting started.”

Another reminder of how fast Griffin has ascended golf’s rankings is that this is the first year he has been invited to play in the Masters, at Augusta National in April.
“When I was in high school, I told myself I would never go to Augusta until I had qualified for the Masters, until I had earned my spot there,” confides Griffin. “I watched the Masters on TV, and I pretty much knew every hole from TV, so it was pretty cool to go there in November.”

Griffin played Augusta National last fall with a member, as custom dictates, and he was able to take his father and a childhood friend along with him to share the thrill.

“My mind is set on a lot of PGA Tour events this year but especially the Masters,” he admits. “The course will obviously play differently in April, with faster greens and firmer fairways, but to see the contours in person was really important, because when you see it on TV it does not give the place justice. It is crazy how hard a walk it is for 18 holes.

“There is a reason that no golfer has won on their Masters debut since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979, and that is because you really need to play the course a few times to understand it and to feel prepared. I am trying to get as many looks around the golf course as possible, and I plan to go back two weeks prior to the Masters and play for a couple days. I might even walk the golf course without clubs. Someone who does this on tour almost every week is Collin Morikawa. He goes around and takes notes from just looking at the course, so I might do that. I might play the course in the morning and try to shoot a score, so putt out every hole, and then just walk it in the afternoon, and take notes on everything in my yardage book, every little hump.”

Hopefully the well-grounded Griffin will enjoy his Masters debut as he plays with a mind free of worries about credit card interest, how to pay for his evening meal, or where to get his laundry done.