Ben Griffin and Michael Kim have taken three weeks off combined the whole year.
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Ben Griffin is on a Sungjae Im-like streak this season, having played every week so far since the Sony Open.
The reason why? He wants to play the Masters.
“It’s always been a childhood dream to play in the Masters,” Griffin said in an interview with Golfweek before this week’s Texas Children’s Houston Open. “And it would be really cool to, you know, cap off a good start to the season this week with getting into Augusta, as well. That would let me take off next week, get ready for Augusta, play there and then see where the rest of season takes me.”
Griffin, in his third season on the PGA Tour, is off to the best start of his young career, having already earned three top-10s, including back-to-back T4s at the Mexico Open and Cognizant Classic. After the Cognizant, Griffin was a career-high 48th in the Official World Golf Ranking, but has fallen to 53rd with back-to-back missed cuts at the Players and Valspar.
That’s important because the top 50 players in the OWGR after this week earn invitations to the Masters. Girffin has never played in the year’s first major so he’s taking advantage of his solid play to begin the season and is playing as much as he can.
“I dreamed of playing on the PGA Tour since I was a little kid,” Griffin said, “and I try to play in as many tournaments as possible. But if I asked my 16-year-old self right now, if I had a spot in the Houston Open, would I play, I’d say ‘absolutely,’ regardless of 12 in a row or not. So I try to stay true to my roots. Obviously, things change when you get older, your body, you got to take care of everything, and eventually, family.
“It’s fun. I don’t mind it. I’m still feeling fresh, even though it’s week 12. I’ll keep going as long as I need to. I love that.”
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Griffin isn’t alone in making a push for the Masters. Michael Kim has played every week since the Sony too — with the exception of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Kim has gotten himself up to 52nd in the world as he seeks his first trip to Augusta since 2019.
Kim has become one of golf Twitter’s stars in recent years and his play has finally started to live up to that hype with a T2 finish at the WM Phoenix Open and two other top-10s, including one at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, a signature event.
“I’m really running on fumes at this point haha,” he wrote on Twitter earlier this week. “Back and neck isn’t feeling great and really ready for some time off. But! I still have one more chance at qualifying for the Masters. I’ll prob need a top 20 to get a spot. At this point, I’ll be happy with or without the week off but I want to give myself the opportunity.”
