Ben Griffin’s costly wedding debacle, the surprising ups and downs Down Under, and golf’s social media legend emerges

Welcome to another edition of The Grind. There, we’re still paying attention to Indiana being the best college football team in the nation. This is an era as confusing as when a short, curvy hitting golfer became number one in the world. Luke Donald, no offense, but this was pretty unbelievable — especially since Luke wasn’t coached by Curt Cininetti. That being said, I think it makes more sense now that Donald has become the Kurt Cignetti of the Ryder Cup. Anyway, now that I’ve started rambling, let’s talk about the golf that happened last week.

we are buying

Hideki Matsuyama: 2025 has been a strange year for Japanese stars. They started the season with a win at Sentry, but waited until Sunday to add a second win (bookend) at the Hero World Challenge. There hasn’t been anything noteworthy in the majors during that time, but if Tiger Woods ever hosts a major, it’s something to watch out for. Matsuyama has now received the trophy from Tiger three times, including twice in the Bahamas.

Am Jared

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What’s even crazier is that both of his hero wins were over Swedish golfer Henrik Stenson in 2016 and Alex Noren on Sunday. But then again, there doesn’t seem to be anything all that crazy about the Indiana Hoosiers being a college football powerhouse anymore.

Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen: The Danish rising star won his first DP World Tour title at the Australian Open. And he did it in one of the most difficult and intense ups and downs of the year.

I’m sure Michael Brock will be impressed with his hands. Neergaard-Petersen defeated Cam Smith, who missed the par putt on the final hole and missed out on winning the U.S. Open. It was a tough finish for Cam, but it was good to see him showing signs of serious life again. Anyway, congratulations to Rasmus. We’ll likely see more of him in the U.S. next year, as he recently finished ninth in the Race to Dubai rankings and earned his PGA Tour card. So he’ll probably get used to FedExCup points quickly.

Snake pottery: A huge shout out to this man who made it his mission to reach 100,000 followers on Instagram in July. why? Because if he ever wanted to become a full-time golf influencer, his wife gave him permission.

Less than five months later, Jaquan made it, thanks in part to a big push from Barstool’s KFC.

What a legend! Congratulations, Jaquan. Now, I don’t know exactly how this is going to pay the bills, but I’m sure we’ll figure it out. In the meantime, keep playing golf. If you’ve ever been to the New York area, please let me know. I wish I would talk to my wife more about the benefits of playing golf.

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Now on sale

Tiger Woods latest information: The 15-time major champion finally revealed details about his recent (possible) return, and it wasn’t great news. Tiger revealed he was cleared to chip and putt and gave a faster but more insightful putting lesson than Herro, but said he has no plans to return. And if he wasn’t at the PNC Championship with Charlie, you know he’s not in good shape right now.

david cannon

It’s a shame that more and more young golf fans are captivated by the way this man plays golf. How good was he? Well, to steal a line from Curt Sinetti: “I used to win. Google me.”

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Windham Clark Season: It’s been a tough season for the 2023 U.S. Open champion, both on the course and in the locker room, as evidenced by his tantrum at Oakmont. However, I appreciate his honesty when asked to evaluate himself in 2025. “F turned into an F-plus,” Clark said Friday after emerging into a 36-hole tie for the lead at the Hero World Challenge.

david cannon

Strictly speaking, I don’t think there is such a thing as a Windham or F Plus. But once again, thank you for your honesty. And the T-8 in the Bahamas is a (small) sign that things are getting better.

Scotty Scheffler’s Finish: Despite roaming at the top of the leaderboard all week in the Bahamas, the world No. 1 was unable to pick up a win. What happened to Scotty?!

Jared C. Tilton

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Just kidding. In a sense.

Related: Golf Digest’s Top 25 Newsmakers of the Year

on tap

The fall–let’s actually call it winter since I’m suffering from teen chills right now–continues with the Grant Thornton Invitational, aka co-ed team season. And the DP World Tour includes the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa. This is not to be confused with the Scottish Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. These two parts of the world are home to very different wildlife, so be careful if you’re attending this week’s event.

Random tournament facts: Adam Scott defeated Justin Rose by one stroke at the 2001 Alfred Dunhill Championship. Nearly a quarter of a century later, both are still playing great golf. Impressive.

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This week’s random prop bet

—Christian Bezuidenhout to beat Alfred Dunhill: Odds of 9 to 1 (favorite)

—Nellie Korda/Denny McCarthy to beat Grant Thornton: 5.5-1 odds (favorite)

—My wife won’t participate in my full-time golf influencer pitch: LOCK

This week’s tweet (golfer category)

As the world’s biggest Chris Paul fan, this has been a tough week. And bringing up this classic CP meme doesn’t help. But it was done well by Gotterup, who shot a 67 on Sunday to finish tied for last in the 20-man field.

Tweets of the week (Golf writer category)

As always, Golf Digest’s CP has a keen eye.

Tweet of the week (PSA category)

As we mentioned last week about the Twitter hack, we can confirm that this is widespread. Don’t click.

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This week’s photo

luke walker

That’s Christopher Reitan being lifted into the air by tournament volunteers after winning the Nedbank Golf Challenge. That’s a wonderful photo. And it’s been a great year for the 27-year-old Norwegian, who has climbed to a career-high No. 33 in the Official World Golf Rankings on the strength of his second DP World Tour title in 2025. I was going to talk about the season, but after the double-dip event last week, the DP World Tour is already well into next season. In any case, Reitan will make his Masters debut in April. Just don’t expect to see him riding on anyone’s shoulders at Augusta National.

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Viral Video of the Week (Weird Shots)

Rory McIlroy’s first tournament at Royal Melbourne produced both whiffs.

And banana balls. literally.

What a wild sport!

Viral Video of the Week (Great Shots)

Tony Finau scored an albatross in a skins game at Silverleaf Country Club. And he videotaped it! Well, in a way.

Damn, that cross-section is too disappointing. To be fair to Chris Como, though, who would have expected him to hole that shot?

This week, express your affection in public.

Congratulations to Ben Griffin and Dana Meyeroff on their wedding! Looks like they had a fun party!

That being said, Ben admitted to a slight scheduling glitch in an interview with Front Office Sports. If he had even thought winning the title of hero was possible, he definitely wouldn’t have competed in the Hero World Challenge and held his wedding last weekend. Instead, he was thinking in a December date: “If I had a bad year, I’d have to go to Q School.” Well, after winning three times on the PGA Tour this year, he won’t have to worry about that for long. And at least he didn’t plan a wedding during the Ryder Cup.

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This week’s celebrity golfer

JR Smith received a call for a timed social post from several fellow Hoopers.

Don’t worry, JR, it was still a good post. Also, for the first time in The Grind’s history, I was able to mention CP3 twice, thank you very much.

Quote of the week

“There’s one thing I’m asking myself, and it’s kind of funny, and I don’t know if I should share it, but I have to ask myself, ‘What was Scotty Scheffler doing when he was 23?’ Was he still working hard on the Korn Ferry Tour, or maybe not, but look at what he looks like now, at 27, 28 years old?” —Akshay Bhatia realized at 23 that he was still really young. Well, Akshay said this after finishing 14th out of 20 after 36 holes in the Bahamas, one stroke behind the leader. But he makes a good point.

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This and that

There are rumors that Brooks Koepka will miss the LIV this season after serving a 12-month suspension and will return to the PGA Tour next year. It would certainly be an interesting move considering he stands to lose over $20 million. …As a reminder of the amount of travel Tour pros travel, Michael Kim shared this yearly recap.

I certainly found it much more interesting than all the summaries out there on Spotify. …The British Open Championship has been rescheduled to August 2028 to coincide with the Summer Olympics. What’s even more interesting about this is that the R&A has yet to announce the venue for the Open. Meanwhile, the USGA is planning the U.S. Open almost until 2051. …Speaking of big numbers, no one won the Powerball jackpot on Monday night, so the prize rose to $930 million. I think I have to buy a ticket now. …And finally, as I do almost every year, I bought a new sweatsuit at Costco. Then my wife told me that I was no longer allowed to go out of the house wearing my old clothes, so I went back to wearing black again.

No comment on whether I still wear the same size.

Random questions to ponder

How much did Tony Finau win with that albatross skin?

Where is the best golf course you can buy if you hit the Powerball?

Should Team USA hire Kurt Cignetti as Ryder Cup captain?