Ben Griffin got off to a fantastic start with an eagle on the first hole and secured his first individual PGA Tour victory at the Charles Schwab Challenge, shooting 1-over-par 71 on Sunday at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
His one-stroke victory came with a 12-under 268 total. Griffin clinched the result with a 4-foot par putt on the last hole.
For the first time in the tournament’s four rounds, Griffin had a different score than Germany’s Matti Schmid (72 on Sunday). Schmid settled for second place.
Griffin, 29, was playing his 94th PGA Tour tournament. It’s the second victory in about a month’s span for Griffin, who combined with Andrew Novak to win April’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans team competition.
Bud Cauley shot 67 to move to third place at 9 under.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who was bidding for a third championship in as many outings, finished with 69, managing his only birdies on Nos. 1 and 11. That left him tied for fourth place at 8 under, joining England’s Tommy Fleetwood (68).
Griffin needed a putt from less than 15 feet for an eagle on the par-5 first hole. He rolled in a birdie on the par-4 second after nearly reaching the green off the tee.
Schmid, who has never won the PGA Tour, birdied the first hole but he was 3 over through six holes during an erratic round. Still, his birdie on No. 16 as Griffin was taking a bogey closed the gap to one stroke.
But Schmid ended up in the bunker on his approach at No. 17, leading to a bogey and a two-stroke gap.
Schmid holed out for birdie from the greenside rough at No. 18 to get back to 11 under and put pressure on Griffin to make his par.
Rickie Fowler, who began the day four strokes back and played as part of the final trio, struggled with a 74 and tied for 16th place at 5 under.
–Field Level Media
