Coming back to where he won his first individual PGA Tour event, professional golfer Ben Griffin received a surprise when he arrived at Colonial Country Club for the 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge.

The 2025 champion stepped on the grounds of the golf course in preparation for his title defense. Returning to Colonial to defend his title, the reality of Griffin's 12-under par victory last year hit him immediately. He addressed the feeling on Wednesday, May 27, at the pre-tournament press conference.

"Then when I got here, I was like, Oh, wow, I'm the defending champion. Wow, my picture is everywhere."

Photos of his one-shot victory over Matti Schmid welcomed him throughout the Fort Worth venue.

Moreover, Griffin even mentioned how his image was shown near key parts of the course, including an especially prominent one that appeared right along his line of sight off a crucial tee box. He made a joke about striking the ball towards the image of himself.

"I'm walking to work out, I'm looking up at the chimney is which, it's like a target on one -- I think it's a target almost off the tee on 15," Griffin explained. "I'm like, Oh, I guess I just aim it at myself, you know."

These visuals are new to the golfer who, before securing his individual win at the Colonial tournament, had only tasted victory in a team format at the Zurich Classic.

Ben Griffin on Overcoming Slumps and Analyzing Course Conditions

Heading into the 2025 tournament, Griffin had a world ranking of 52, but his breakthrough victory lifted him to 24. Coming back to Colonial, Griffin is hoping to breathe life into a slow start to his 2026 season.

The defending champion currently has three top-15 finishes out of his last four tournaments. This includes the solid 14th place at the PGA Championship tournament. Griffin admitted that his early-year performance has not been ideal.

"It was definitely a little bit of a slower start to the season, not unlike any of my other seasons I've had on TOUR."

Rainfall had significantly changed the Colonial this year by making the fairways softer. while slowing the greens, which was not the case last year when Griffin finished at 4-over on his last 13 holes in windy conditions.

Soft greens are anticipated to cause a drop in round one scores, and Griffin and other players will temporarily benefit from their aggressive long-driving skills until the Texas wind makes its presence felt on a course through the week. Griffin noted the same at the presser.

"So I'm sure scoring will be a little bit lower as we start the week, but if it stays dry and the wind picks up, this place can firm up quite a bit."

It remains to be seen whether Griffin hits his irons well enough to tame a very different golf course to become a back-to-back winner at Colonial since Ben Hogan last achieved that in 1953.

Do you think Ben Griffin will be able to defend his championship this year at the Charles Schwab Challenge? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by

Abhishek Sharma

Edited by

Surjo Ray