Surprising FedEx Cup Leader Lanto Griffin Here to Stay This Season
Lanto Griffin is not a name that many casual or even the most emphatic golf fans will recognize. However, after his impressive PGA Tour win at the Houston Open a couple of weeks back, he currently stands at the top of the FedEx Cup standings at this point in the season.
His name might sound like an obscure family guy reference, but PGA Tour fans should get to know Lanto Griffin.
Being at the top of the FedEx cup leaderboard this early in the season may not seem like a big deal, but to player like Griffin, who is trying to play his way into the big tournaments this year, it means everything for his season schedule.
His early-season success and win mean that he has already secured spots in the Sentry Tournament of Champions, The Players Championship, and the tournament everyone wants an invite to, the 2020 Masters. A far cry from his disappointing PGA Tour debut that occurred a couple of seasons back.
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The Sentry Tournament of Champions, first one of those tournaments to pop up this season, is not until January. Yet Griffin is already marking the date on his calendar in anticipation for the event, he told Sean Martin of pgatour.com that, it is something he has always paid attention to, saying,
"“The Sentry Tournament of Champions is something that I’ve always watched, so it’s been fun. Just the outpouring of support from friends, family, people I don’t even know. The players, getting a lot of congrats from players, peers has been really cool. It’s something that you always dreamed about and never really knew if it would happen, so now that it’s happened, it’s been a pretty fun experience.”"
Griffin has already had an incredible start to the season, and played consistently well before his win in Houston, providing proof it was no fluke. He has placed in the top 18 in every tournament he has played this season and already has three top 15 finishes.
Another telling stat of how his game has been on fire lately is his birdie total for the season. He currently leads all PGA Tour players with 16 in only 4 tournaments played.
His early birdie spree has him in line to win the Birdies Fore Love Campaign, which only has four tournaments left in the contest. The contest states that the player with the most birdies in the fall PGA Tour schedule wins a staggering $300,000 towards a charity of their choice.
He plans to use that money to go towards a charity in his hometown of Blacksburg Virginia. All of that is adding on to $50,000 from RSM he already donated to that same charity from his win at the Houston Open.
Here is his twitter post showing how much this feat would mean to him.
I'm leading by 1 birdie with 4 tournaments left, so birdies are needed @Bermuda_Champ!
— Lanto Griffin (@thelanto61) October 30, 2019
The player who makes the most birdies during the fall events gets $300,000 to donate to a charity of their choice. #BirdiesForeLove
Big thanks to the fans for all the support this season. pic.twitter.com/gn8N5ymn27
The best part about this story is what else Griffin will do if he does indeed get that money to donate. He plans on using the $300,000 to start his own charity to support children who can’t afford youth sports and families that need financial help while fighting an illness.
This is a cause that he has always wanted to help raise awareness because he himself had to get financial help to compete as a junior golfer because his dad passed away due to a brain tumor when he was only 12 years old. A terrible tragedy like that is likely to stay with someone for the rest of their life, but Griffin has turned that into hope for people going through the similar struggles that he and his family went through.
Lanto Griffin will get a chance to continue his successful season and rack up more birdies this weekend while playing in the Bermuda Championship. He posted a decent score of an even-par 71, on the first day of the tournament, and also had one birdie drop for him.
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If Lanto Griffin can keep it up for the next few tournaments or so, not only will he continue to make his name known on tour, he will start his path to making life better for others through his own charitable vision.