Few professionals have experienced life-changing years like Ben Griffin in 2025. Griffin, who was working in an office until 2021, from holding on to his PGA Tour card in player of the year candidate. Then, to top it off, he got married.
Typically, professional players carefully plan their wedding around their busy professional careers, making sure they don’t miss any major events. But Griffin’s wedding ended up in a major scheduling conflict 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 tour was not a strong 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 Hero.
The reason Griffin’s wedding clashed 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 featured a theme of “refined tropical luxury.”
That date, December 6, also hosted the third round of the 2025 World Hero Challenge in the Bahamas. While Hero is an unofficial PGA Tour event with a limited field, only the best players and biggest stars get an invitation. And the invitation comes directly from Tiger himself.
;)
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While Hero is not a master, it is still an invitation that is difficult for any golfer (not named Rory McIlroy) to refuse.
But before the wedding, Griffin talked to Sports Front Office and explained the true source of his scheduling conflict.
When he and his wife were planning their wedding, the December 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.
Rather than anticipate his three-win season that earned him a spot on the US Ryder Cup team, Griffin was more concerned with securing his Tour card for 2026.
That’s why, how he said Sports Front Officethe December tournament he was most concerned about planning his wedding was the Q-School Final Stage.
“If I have a bad year, I’m going to have to go to Q-School,” Griffin said.
After the wedding date was set in stone, Griffin went on to win the Zurich Classic, the Charles Schwab Challenge and the Technology World Championship (played on the Tiger Woods-designed Cardonali), and added two runner-up finishes to move into the Top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
His exemplary play and performance at the Ryder Cup earned him the hard-earned invitation from Woods. But because he hadn’t anticipated his meteoric rise, he was forced to turn it down.
“It sucks not being able to play in Hero,” Griffin said Sports Front Office. “But I’m honestly very excited.”
