In-form PGA Tour golfer Ben Griffin weighs in on Ryder Cup chances: "That's all I can do"
In-form PGA Tour golfer Ben Griffin has weighed in on his chances of making his Ryder Cup debut at Bethpage Black this September.
US Ryder Cup hopeful Ben Griffin says his best golf is enough to beat the likes of Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy and Tyrrell Hatton.
Griffin comes into the Wyndham Championship with his confidence at an all-time high.
The 29-year-old is enjoying a stellar, breakout campaign that has seen him win twice on the PGA Tour.
He teamed up with Andrew Novak to capture the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in April and backed that up with his first individual win at the Charles Schwab Challenge.
Those victories, combined with eight top-10 finishes, have propelled the golfer to seventh in the FedEx Cup standings.
More crucially, though, he has a chance to automatically qualify for the US Ryder Cup team.
The top six players in the overall standings at the conclusion of the BMW Championship next month qualify for Keegan Bradley's team.
And Griffin most certainly will have a strong case for a captain's pick.
World No.1 Scottie Scheffler was the first to qualify. Xander Schauffele, JJ Spaun, Russell Henley, Bryson DeChambeau and Harris English currently occupy the remaining qualifying positions.
"Look, I've said it tons in interviews and stuff, if I just do the right things each week, and this week in particular if I play really well and just focus on winning, the by-product of that's going to be making the Ryder Cup team," Griffin, who is ninth in the standings, told reporters before the Wyndham Championship.
"The more I kind of look at rankings or whatever, it's not going to help me. The only thing that can help me is playing extremely good golf against the best players in the world every single week and if I can do that, it's going to take care of itself.
Rank | Movement | Player | Country | Points |
1 | — | Scottie Scheffler (Q) | USA | 32,420.33 |
2 | — | Xander Schauffele | USA | 13,383.85 |
3 | — | J.J. Spaun | USA | 12,478.91 |
4 | — | Russell Henley | USA | 11,623.82 |
5 | — | Bryson DeChambeau | USA | 10,774.98 |
6 | — | Harris English | USA | 10,385.65 |
7 | — | Justin Thomas | USA | 10,208.09 |
8 | — | Collin Morikawa | USA | 9,743.61 |
9 | — | Ben Griffin | USA | 8,604.91 |
10 | — | Keegan Bradley | USA | 8,038.50 |
11 | — | Maverick McNealy | USA | 7,414.15 |
12 | — | Brian Harman | USA | 7,007.99 |
13 | — | Andrew Novak | USA | 6,560.15 |
14 | — | Patrick Cantlay | USA | 6,069.39 |
15 | — | Sam Burns | USA | 5,638.79 |
16 | — | Wyndham Clark | USA | 5,171.07 |
17 | — | Lucas Glover | USA | 4,640.94 |
18 | — | Daniel Berger | USA | 4,492.01 |
19 | — | Cameron Young | USA | 4,413.64 |
20 | ↓2 | Chris Gotterup | USA | 4,403.64 |
21 | ↑1 | Tom Hoge | USA | 4,392.10 |
22 | ↑1 | Tony Finau | USA | 4,224.01 |
23 | ↓8 | Sam Stevens | USA | 4,144.74 |
24 | ↑1 | Denny McCarthy | USA | 3,990.27 |
25 | ↑1 | Akshay Bhatia | USA | 3,799.30 |
Griffin added: "It would be an honour to be on that team. It's something I think everyone that's around that's American at least and in the mix of being in the Ryder Cup, everyone dreamed of it as a kid. So even getting on Tour and on the Korn Ferry Tour, everyone, those are events you want to play in.
"You want to represent your country, it's just a tremendous honour. Yeah, I want to make sure like my game, like I can't just sit here and hope to get on that team.
"I need to continue to play really good golf because even if I was to like not play well and still be on the team, I want to be playing really well when I'm at the Ryder Cup."
Team Europe will once again be led by Luke Donald.
Masters champion Rory McIlroy has already secured his space and, it looks as though the nucleus of the team that prevailed in Rome two years ago will remain in tact.
Griffin said: "So I've got to continue to do the right things right now and build this next month and a half stretch leading into Bethpage to where I'm playing really elite golf and I can beat Rory McIlroy and I can beat Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton.
"Like I want to have that mindset when I get there and I don't want to just sit here on a boat and just relax, I think cruise into Bethpage.
"I've got to keep the pedal down without a doubt. I'm excited for the challenge, I'm excited to tee it up each and every day and challenge myself and try to make birdies on the hardest holes out here. That's all I can do."