NAPA, Calif. – If you've been following the Procore Championship, there's a good chance you've heard the name Ben Griffin all week.

But it was a different Griffin who surprisingly stole the spotlight on Sunday at Silverado Resort: Lanto Griffin, the 37-year-old Californian who launched a final-round 65 to scare winner Scottie Scheffler's lead and ultimately finish in third place.

"Obviously, you want to win, but keeping your job ..." Griffin said, while holding back tears, after his final round. "Just proud of myself, how I handled the (back nine). ... Playing good golf is so much fun, and playing bad golf is pretty brutal on your psyche.

"I've put a lot of hard work in these last five weeks since Wyndham, and it's kind of nice to see it come together. Still got a lot of work to do this fall, but it's a good little boost and reminder that I'm still pretty good."

Griffin entered the Procore, the opening event of the FedExCup Fall, at No. 142 in the FedExCup standings. His finish here propels him to No. 100, a number that has gained significance this year. Instead of the top 125, only the top 100 players in the FedExCup at the conclusion of the fall will earn full PGA TOUR status for 2026. Those at Nos. 101-125 will retain conditional status.

Griffin started Sunday at the Procore at 10-under, six shots behind leader Ben Griffin. He birdied six of his first eight holes, making the turn in 30, then added two more birdies – including a chip-in from 35 feet on the par-4 16th hole – on the more difficult back nine to finish at 17-under, two shots behind Scheffler.

"I kind of wish Scottie wasn't here, but I'm sure the fans enjoyed it," said Griffin with a laugh.

Griffin’s journey to Napa has been the culmination of a long year of frustration, some of it stemming from previous injuries. He ruptured his L5-S1 disc in his back in May 2020 and underwent a microdiscectomy surgery to manage the pain in July of 2022. Griffin had 2025 TOUR status by virtue of winning the 2024 PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry, but the first few months of 2025 saw mixed results: T9 at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, then four missed cuts in his next six events.

"Sometimes when you work hard and work on the wrong stuff you get worse, and that's kind of what happened," Griffin said. "My work ethic hasn't changed. I kind of went down the wrong path and it went backwards."

Griffin withdrew from the Corales Puntacana Championship in April.

"My body completely locked up," said Griffin. "I tried playing Thursday and I was 4-, 5-miles-an-hour slow. I think we were playing the following week, so I was looking at it as I really needed to get home and get treatment to be able to play the following week."

It was time for a change. In May, Griffin tapped his old coach Todd Anderson, and Alex Bennett, director of athletic performance, both at TPC Sawgrass. He went back to the basics with Anderson and began weight training again with Bennett, something he hadn’t done since surgery.

"My body feels way less pain, complete night and day difference," said Griffin. "It's crazy when you work on some wrong stuff, it actually feels so wrong to do it right. … It started clicking the last week or two.

“I know the foundation's set now."

With his groundwork laid and confidence restored, don’t count this Griffin out in the FedExCup Fall.