OAKMONT, PENNSYLVANIA | The thing about life-changing events is how they can seem, at the moment, like just another part of another day.
When Ben Griffin tees off at 7:29 a.m. Thursday in the first round of the U.S. Open at Oakmont, he will be the 15th-ranked player in the world, having won two of his last six starts with a runner-up finish to Scottie Scheffler most recently at the Memorial Tournament.
Griffin is on the hot list as a potential U.S. Ryder Cup team member and he bears watching at Oakmont because of his current form and the top-to-bottom consistency in his game.
None of which would likely be the case were it not for Doug Sieg asking Griffin and a friend to join him and his ninth-grade daughter, Taylor, to play nine holes at Sea Island in early 2021.
It was a matter of convenience and nothing else.
The golf course was booked and Griffin had nowhere to play until Sieg, a New Jersey-based wealth management executive on vacation at the Georgia resort, invited Griffin and his friend to join them.
They enjoyed each other’s company and later, when Sieg was talking with Sea Island fitness guru Randy Myers about his day, Myers suggested Griffin might be the player he should consider sponsoring if Sieg was serious about investing in a professional golfer.
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