The world of pro golf is a tough one. Paychecks are on the line every week and jobs are on the line at this point in the year. But there are certain relationships that matter just as much, and in the past week, we’ve seen Ben Griffin involved in two such situations.
First, the three-time winner was right there off the 18th green on Sunday evening to congratulate his buddy Andrew Novak earning his first solo PGA Tour title (the two had teamed up to win last year’s Zurich Classic).
Sam Hodde
RELATED: How Andrew Novak made a bit of golf-and-football history
It was a nice scene, but just a couple days later, Griffin got even more emotional when talking about another golf buddy. That would be Austin Hitt, who recently earned his PGA Tour card for the first time by winning his maiden Korn Ferry Tour title. And who did it after losing his dad to cancer a couple years before.
Griffin and Hitt were college teammates at UNC, where Griffin says Hitt was his de facto “younger brother.” Anyway, good luck not getting emotional watching Griffin getting emotional as he talked about Hitt on Tuesday ahead of his title defense at the World Wide Technology Championship.
Ben Griffin grew emotional as he watched his @UNCMensGolf teammate and de facto “younger brother” Austin Hitt win last month’s @KFTChampionship in Virginia to earn his first PGA Tour card.
Hitt’s dad Chip, who was a standout junior golfer in Virginia, died of cancer two years… pic.twitter.com/OKFtxMNCHt
— PGA Tour (@PGATour) November 3, 2026
That’s the good stuff, as they say. We’re not sure how Hitt will fare in his first PGA Tour season, but it’s a pretty safe bet that he and Griffin—and Novak—will be playing a lot of practice rounds together in 2027.
RELATED: Our expert picks to win the World Wide Technology Championship
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
.jpeg.rend.hgtvcom.616.770.suffix/1719585866879.jpeg)
