Ben Griffin

Ranked 52nd in the world at the start of the week in which the top 50 would earn places at Royal Portrush, Ben Griffin not only made certain of his spot but climbed to a career-high 24th with victory at May’s Charles Schwab Challenge in Texas.

It came just a month after his maiden PGA Tour win in partnership with Andrew Novak at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and a tie for eighth at the PGA Championship, comfortably the best performance of his five major appearances at the time.

Made it into the field at Royal Troon last year with a solo second finish behind behind Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre at the RBC Canadian Open, where three Open Qualifying Series spots were on offer.

In 2023 it was a tie for for 14th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational which eventually led to his debut in the Championship. Three spots were also up for grabs there and it was only when winner Kurt Kitayama, Harris English, Jason Day and Keegan Bradley later became exempt as members of the world’s top 50 at the end of May that he took the final berth.

At the start of 2022 his ranking stood at 1,744th, having stepped away from golf to work as a loan officer for a mortgage company.