PGA Tour Pro Joins Lexi Thompson In Surprising Equipment Deal

PGA Tour pro Ben Griffin is taking LPGA Tour star Lexi Thompson’s lead by using a golf ball from a manufacturer that had long since fallen out of fashion.

In an exclusive interview with Jonathan Wall at GOLF.com, the World No.92 has revealed he will use Maxfli’s Tour X ball between now and the end of the season after seeing stunning results in testing.

Before trying the ball out for himself, Griffin explained that the 11-time LPGA Tour winner’s use of the ball had sparked his interest in a manufacturer virtually unseen on the PGA Tour nowadays, but previously used by the likes of Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman.

He said: “Lexi drew my interest to the ball initially. I saw she was playing it and my caddie, who used to caddie for Lexi’s brother Curtis, thought I should at least test out the Maxfli to see how it performed.”

However, while Thompson’s high-profile endorsement of the ball piqued his interest, it was after he began testing it that he was really sold on the idea of using it at tournaments - particularly in the extra distance the ball gave him.

He explained: “It was roughly 8 yards additional during preliminary testing, Around the green, I didn’t see a ton of differences across balls. That’s when the distance side really started to intrigue me. There are certain weeks out here when distance has kind of turned into a priority.”

Thompson announced Maxfli as her new ball sponsor in January after splitting with Bridgestone, who she had been with since 2018. Her first outing with it came at the LPGA Drive On Championship at the end of that month, where she finished T16, with her best result using the ball so far coming with a T3 at March’s Ford Championship.

While Griffin is due to officially confirm his deal with Maxfli this week, he has also used it in competitive action, at the Texas Children’s Houston Open in March, where he finished T36, and April’s Corales Puntacana Championship, where he achieved his best result of the year with a T14.

The latter tournament played out amid windy conditions, but Griffin revealed that, far from the ball struggling in the air, it was his form on the greens that prevented him from achieving an even higher place on the leaderboard.

 “The ball wasn’t holding me back by any means,” he said. “It was one of those situations where I felt like I could’ve been in contention if I had made more putts.”

Griffin also thinks his decision to use the Maxfli ball could ultimately open the floodgates, with more PGA Tour pros following suit. He added: “This could be the start where we see a few more guys test it.

“Maybe not this year, but in the years to come. It’s fun to try something out here that no one else is. Some might say it’s a risk. But to me, it’s very calculated. I’ve seen the numbers to prove it.”

Griffin’s latest opportunity to showcase the ball comes this week with the CJ Cup Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch. He has a tee time of 8.01am ET (1.01pm BST) in the first round in a group with Cody Gribble and Sean O’Hair.