Ben Griffin and Andrew Novak, 2025 Zurich Classic winners, will return to defend their title this year.
Griffin broke through for his first PGA Tour title in the 2025 Zurich Classic with Novak, then went on to win two more tournaments at the Charles Schwab Challenge a month later and the Worldwide Technology Championship to close out his season.
Coming into New Orleans, he was poised to grab his first win, as he had posted three top-10 finishes in the early months of the 2025 season. Overall in 2025, he scored three wins, two seconds and 12 top-10s and was selected for the U.S. Ryder Cup team. Two of his top-10 finishes were at the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open.
Now ranked 16th in the world, he finished 2025 at eighth worldwide after starting 2025 at 68th. He is currently ranked fourth in U.S. President’s Cup points.
Griffin stepped away from the game of golf in 2022 and worked as a loan officer for a mortgage group in North Carolina. He returned to the PGA Tour in 2022-23 and validated his decision by posting 12 top-25 and three top-10 finishes to earn nearly $3 million that season.
In the 2025 Ryder Cup, he was 1-1, winning his Sunday singles match against Rasmus Højgaard to bring the U.S. team within two points of a historic come-from-behind victory.
Griffin’s playing partner Andrew Novak also enjoyed his best season in 2025, with his first PGA Tour victory at the Zurich Classic in his 100th career start on the Tour. At the time, we was primed for a top finish himself, having lost a playoff in the RBC Heritage just a week before Zurich and tied for third in the Valero Texas Open two weeks earlier.
For the season in 2025, he posted 12 top-25 finishes and six top-10s to go with his title at the Zurich Classic, reaching 30thin the world after the Tour Championship.
He also won the Grant Thornton Invitational with LPGA player Lauren Coughlin, giving him a sweep of team tournaments for the year, an accomplishment he termed a modern-day team grand slam. They finished at 28-under, a new scoring record for the three-year event.
About Fore!Kids Foundation:
Since 1958, the Fore!Kids Foundation has raised money to fund children’s service organizations through golf events like the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and several charitable golf tournaments.
In 2025, the Fore!Kids Foundation generated a record $3.6 million in charitable giving for children’s charities in the New Orleans and Baton Rouge metro areas. Charitable contributions have been rising in recent years:
· $3.6 million in 2025
· Over $24.6 million to charities in last 10 years
· Over $55 million to charities since inception