Few professionals have experienced life-changing years like Ben Griffin in 2025. Griffin, who didn’t work in an office until 2021, went from holding on to his PGA Tour card to a Player of the Year candidate. To top it all off, he got married.
Typically, professional golfers carefully plan their weddings around their busy professional careers so that they don’t miss any major events. But Griffin’s wedding ended in a major clash with the Hero World Challenge, the exclusive invitation-only tournament hosted by none other than Tiger Woods.
As a result, Griffin had to reject Tiger.
However, Griffin’s decision to hold his wedding on the weekend of Tiger’s tournament was not a power move by the 29-year-old American star. The opposite is closer to the truth: Griffin didn’t think he had a chance of being invited to the Hero.
The reason why Griffin’s wedding conflicted with Tiger Woods’ event
Griffin married Dana Myeroff last Saturday at The Colony Hotel in Palm Beach in front of 125 guests. According to People magazinethe festivities had a theme of ‘refined tropical luxury’.
That date, December 6, also saw the third round of the 2025 Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. Although the Hero is an unofficial PGA Tour event with a limited number of participants, only the best players and biggest stars receive an invitation. And the invitation comes directly from Tiger himself.
While the Hero isn’t a Masters, it’s still an invitation that’s hard for any golfer (not named Rory McIlroy) to refuse.
But before the wedding, Griffin talked to Front office sports and explained the true source of his scheduling conflict.
When he and his wife were planning their wedding, December’s Hero World Challenge wasn’t even on his radar. At the time, he had zero PGA Tour wins and was coming off a season in which he finished 61st in the Fedex Cup standings.
Instead of envisioning his three-win season that earned him a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, Griffin was more concerned about securing his 2026 Tour card.
Therefore, if he said Front office sportsThe December tournament he was most worried about was the final phase of Q-School.
“If I have a bad year, I have to go to Q-School,” Griffin said.
With the wedding date set in stone, Griffin went out and won the Zurich Classic, Charles Schwab Challenge and World Wide Technology Championship (played at the Tiger Woods-designed El Cardonal), adding two second-place finishes to move into the Top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking.
His exemplary play and performance in the Ryder Cup earned him the hard-fought invite from Woods. But because he did not predict his meteoric rise, he was forced to reject it.
“It’s a shame not to be able to play in the Hero,” said Griffin Front office sports. “But I’m honestly so excited.”
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