Ben Griffin looks to rebound from missing the cut in each of his last two tournaments when he tees off at the Wyndham Championship on Thursday.
Griffin, a former University of North Carolina standout, admitted on Tuesday that he relishes playing in the tournament at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro.
And with good reason, considering the former mortgage broker finished 14-under par and in fourth place in 2022 before tying for seventh at 12 under in 2024.
"Yeah, this is one of my favourite events of the year, just a lot of family and friends close by. So really excited to come in this week with a lot more freedom than last kind of couple years being on the bubble of the playoffs," he said.
Griffin, 29, is 17th in the Official World Golf Ranking on the strength of his two wins earlier this season.
He combined with Andrew Novak to win April's Zurich Classic of New Orleans team competition before capturing the Charles Schwab Challenge in May.
"Pretty much locked up a lot of things coming into this week so playing stress-free golf, just trying to play my best and, hopefully, try to win this one because it's definitely way up there on my list," he said.
Griffin recorded six straight finishes of tied for 14th or better prior to missing the cut at the John Deere Classic and Open Championship.
"Yeah, it certainly hasn't hurt the confidence, it's been pretty amazing," he said of his strong play. "Yeah, it's been an awesome year. And like the last couple years, it's playing really good golf but I hadn't quite broken through the way I have this year. Just continued to kind of work hard.
"Made some changes both physically with my body and then swing's just in a really good spot, so a lot of the hard work's really paid off this year. Continued to have built more and more confidence as I've gotten the experience against the best players in the world, and yeah, it's been awesome to play."