For many fans, professional golf seems to be a life of luxury, featuring immaculate golf courses, substantial prize money, and global recognition. But beneath that polished surface lies a much tougher reality, one defined by financial strain, constant pressure, and emotional fatigue. Ben Griffin knows that world firsthand. While he’s now among the top 20 golfers in the world, his rise to prominence came with steep personal and financial challenges. Griffin’s journey reveals the financial hardships that quietly shape the futures of many aspiring pros, regardless of talent.
Ben Griffin’s financial struggles
In a candid appearance on the No Laying Up podcast, the 29-year-old opened up about the less glamorous side of chasing a golf career. Before making headlines on the PGA Tour, Griffin’s reality was far from anything it is today. “But no, I mean, yeah, my whole story, uh, definitely unique. Um, most have heard it, but yeah, just um playing professional golf obviously um has its challenges. Early on, mini tour level expenses are high, it’s tough. When I was playing, I had a little bit of success, and then I kind of lost my Korn Ferry tour card when I was playing internationally,” Griffin confessed. He turned professional in 2018 and played on several mini tours, including the Korn Ferry Tour, which he joined in 2019.
The next year, in 2021, Griffin played just one event and didn’t earn anything on the Korn Ferry Tour. He did play on the PGA Tour LatinoAmerica, but didn’t do well there either. “And it’s not like I was a bad golfer. Like, I went on the Canadian tour. I played in Korn Ferry events. I played in tour events. Um, I had Monday qualified. I’d made the cut on a tour event before I quit. Like everything was fine,” Griffin recalled. In 2019, he made a cut at the RSM Classic and stands at T49 at the Puerto Rico Open; his earnings for that period were $7540 for these 2 events he played in 2018-2019. While his performances didn’t waver, his finances did.
“The problem was my bank account was not fine, and I didn’t want to rely on my parents,” Griffin said. But that wasn’t the only issue. Seeing his friends working corporate jobs and living independently made Griffin question his own financial stability. “And so, it was tough… um mentally you’re kind of… you’re battling that,” he admitted. According to a Golf Digest report, the average cost of playing a full season on tour can range between $40,000 and $100,000, while most players earn far less. Griffin was no exception.
2 Wins. 8 Top-10s. 6th in FedExCup.
Ben Griffin is on a tear in 2025 — let’s keep it going.#nothingfeelslikeamizuno #bengriffin #mizunofamily pic.twitter.com/LZZql8agWL
— mizunogolf (@MizunoGolfNA) June 27, 2025
He compared the life of a struggling pro to that of a startup founder—”Yes, you have to think about it like playing professional golf as an investment, and like you’re kind of like a startup, and you need outside investment to get going.” But for many, that investment never comes. Griffin eventually quit professional golf in 2021 simply because he ran out of money. “But the most important thing was I just was out of money and it was… actually it wasn’t out of money, I was in the hole significantly.”
“When I stepped away from golf, I was basically struggling on the… not struggling, but wasn’t making any money on the mini tours,” Griffin continued. “I’d lost my motivation and love for golf. The stress of playing with $15,000 of credit-card debt was agony, so I quit,” he told Golf Digest.
After stepping away, he took a job selling mortgages as a loan officer and helped his dad with some real estate work. But just a few months in, his luck turned when his trainer, Randy Meyers, reconnected with an old friend.
How a golf round revived Griffin’s career
It was in 2022 when Griffin’s trainer reconnected with an old friend, Doug Sieg, who is now the CEO of Lord Abbott Asset Management Group in New Jersey. Sieg would often tell Meyers that he was keen to sponsor a struggling golfer who was finding a way to work his way into professional golf. And when Sieg found out that Griffin had quit due to financial struggles, he immediately stepped in. “When he found out I quit, he was like, ‘you’re my guy, like I just need to sponsor you. I didn’t realize everything you were going through,” Griffin said on the No Laying Up podcast.
“If it weren’t for Doug Sieg and Lord Abbett … he offered to pay all of my expenses for two years to play professional golf,” Griffin said at The 2023 PLAYERS Championship. “He saw something in me that some other people may have saw, but he was able to put the check forward to me to allow me to play professional golf,” he added. That single decision transformed Griffin’s career. In 2022, Griffin came back on the Korn Ferry Tour, played 22 events, and took home $260K. He then earned an opportunity to play at the Wyndham Championship in 2022, where he finished 4th, and hasn’t looked back since.
Since then, he has played in 100 events on the PGA Tour, with two wins and eight top 10 finishes this year alone. Now Griffin ranks 7th on the Official money list, with earnings of over $8 million in 2025 alone. He ranks 7th in the FedEx Cup rankings and 17th in the OWGR. Now, on the verge of a Ryder Cup debut, he serves as a powerful reminder that for many, the hardest part of the journey is just staying in the game.
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