MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 6, 2026

Ben Griffin

Quick Quotes

Q. How did your practice round go today on the back nine with Brooks?

BEN GRIFFIN: Yeah, it was a great time. Awesome, anytime you're playing golf at Augusta National it's a special day so it was nice to get a feel for the back nine. The course is starting to get firmer and firmer and we'll see if it continues to do that until Thursday but always a treat and it was a good time.

Q. To see how many people have turned up --

BEN GRIFFIN: Yeah, everyone wants to go and go to the Masters. Me as a kid, too, it's a dream to just even be out here. As a player, this is a dream come true situation. Just really excited for the opportunity this week.

Yeah, once you get to Amen Corner everything kind of -- it kind of gets a bit more peaceful, honestly. When you're on like the 12th green and then you hit your tee shot on 13, back in that corner you finally kind of feel like you're away from the tournament for a little bit. It almost feels like you're on a practice putting green, which is nice.

It's a really cool corner of the golf course that offers some drama and also the wind swirls a ton in the corner. Even today we had predominantly a northeast wind today and by the time we got to 12 it felt like if almost flipped.

It's a really difficult stretch of holes, a lot of history on those holes, and it'll be an exciting week.

Q. (Indiscernible).

BEN GRIFFIN: Yeah, just continue to get a good feel for the course, enjoy my time out here. I'm excited for the par-3 contest. My wife Dana is going to be on the bag so that's going to be a really special time.

It's a lot of preparation, just like I would treat it for a normal tournament, but I feel like once you step on the grounds, the first tee here, it feels less like a typical practice round and more like a really enjoyable time and you're just trying to soak in the experience.

There's no doubt I'm getting a good feel for all the areas around the greens and everything like that but I'm trying to just have as much fun as I can.

Q. Do you have any memories of watching this tournament?

BEN GRIFFIN: I mean, tons of memories, all the iconic shots that have been hit. The one that comes to mind first is Tiger Woods' chip on 16 with the dramatic Nike symbol, best out of all time. Little things like that come to mind.

Even just watching playoffs, I feel like there were so many playoffs when I was a kid, through middle school and high school here where there were so many dramatic finishes.

I feel like every hole there's like a shot that's been hit by someone that I've either heard of or seen on television that I kind of remember.

It's like Louis Oosthuizen, his double eagle on 2 comes to mind. Hole 1, I've never seen the shot - no one has really unless you were in attendance - but Phil Mickelson's flip shot from way long right that Bones talks about, to the back left pin, holing that out. No. 3, guys almost driving the green or driving the green. There's little things like that.

I've tried to learn from maybe some of those shots and how guys have played it. I feel like I've learned a lot from past players, for instance, like a lay-up shot on 15, how much more of an advantage you have if you're down on the left side of that fairway hitting up into kind of the green a little bit more as opposed to having a shot skip and maybe be a little bit more downhill.

There's little things like that that you've got to pick up on as you play. The course itself, we have a yardage book that's got decent details and you know what to expect, but until you play it to certain pin locations you just continue to learn every single round you play. I feel like every round you play you learn something new probably from this golf course. I think a lot of the membership would say the same.

Q. Along the lines of the greens, did you do a lot of research or are you trying to figure it out as you're playing, the tendency of things to go that way or certain areas?

BEN GRIFFIN: Yeah, certainly everyone will say that the majority of these holes will break towards Rae's Creek except for the spring over there on No. 5. No, I haven't done a ton of research online or anything like that, but I've taken a lot of notes.

I would say this past weekend I did a good job of not really even hitting that many shots, hitting a few shots, hitting a few putts, but really just taking a look at different angles around the greens and maybe taking some notes on what certain putts tend to break. So I did a lot of that on Saturday and Sunday the last two days.

Today was more of playing and getting more in a rhythm. I think it's a better strategy because the course tends to be a little bit softer and slower early in the week here, and it gets firmer and faster as the week progresses. I feel like the practicing not quite as hard last couple days, even today, as opposed to maybe the next two days around the greens, just so I'm getting closer to more of the tournament feels because I feel like if I did a lot of short game practice maybe the last couple days or even today, it's not super realistic compared to Thursday and Friday with the weather forecast we have.

We'll see. This course can change fast. They have a lot of different systems that they use here to make things faster, as fast as possible. It's going to be exciting and I'm pumped for the test.

Q. Did you make a scouting trip visit?

BEN GRIFFIN: Yeah, I came in November. Obviously the course is going to be a little different in the fall, and then I came this past Monday. A lot of players were here this past Monday, some past champions, and I felt like that was a good little prep to kind of go into this off week and have some things to work on.

Q. How is your game?

BEN GRIFFIN: I think it's in a good spot. I haven't had the fastest start to the season. Obviously I think even J.J. talked about it yesterday after winning, just having high expectations after a really big year.

I think it's kind of similar to me. If you look at my history of the past four years on the PGA TOUR, I've pretty much done exactly what I've done to start the season the last three seasons, so I'm not really worried at all.

All I know is in Houston I was starting to hit it really nice the last couple days. Didn't putt it as great, but obviously if the putter gets hot and the ball-striking stays where it is, I feel like I can have a really good week.