NAPA, Calif. — After a first-round 64, Ben Griffin walked off Silverado Resort with the lowest score of the 10 U.S. Ryder Cup players in the Procore Championship.

"Yeah, I'm the best player on the Ryder Cup. Yeah, it's pretty cool," the two-time PGA TOUR winner joked.

Fast forward to Friday, where Griffin posted a second-round 66 to take the solo lead after the morning wave. It's not feeling like a joke anymore.

Griffin finished ninth in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings and was a captain's pick for the 2025 event, slated for the end of September at Bethpage Black in Long Island, New York. He carried the momentum from his clutch closing 17-foot par putt on No. 18 Thursday into a bogey-free Friday where he hit 16 greens in regulation and was third in Strokes Gained: Approach to Green.

Starting on the back nine, he took advantage of the three par 5s and also drained a 21-foot putt on the par-3 17th to make the turn in 33. He hit approach shots to 8 and 4 feet on Nos. 2 and 6, respectively, and converted those for birdies.

His solid play in Napa is a continuation of the recent run of success he's had. After missing back-to-back cuts at the John Deere Classic and The Open Championship, Griffin carded four straight top-12 finishes starting at the Wyndham Championship. This will be his first Ryder Cup in a season marked by firsts — his first TOUR win, at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, and his first time making the TOUR Championship.

"If anything, I'm a little bit more free compared to the (FedExCup) Playoffs just because there was a lot at stake for me," Griffin said after his round on Friday. "Making the Ryder Cup team and everything ... it's not like on the golf course I felt anxious, but definitely in between rounds I was more anxious. I really have nothing to lose this week."

Playing just two groups ahead of Griffin were Ryder Cup teammates Russell Henley and J.J. Spaun, who both backed up solid first rounds with second-round 68s. Henley and Spaun were second and third on the leaderboard at 11 and 9-under.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, also in the same group, improved upon an opening 70, which ended his streak of 21 consecutive rounds in the 60s, with a second-round 68. He was 6-under and eight shots back of Griffin.

Improvement seemed to be the overall trend for most of the U.S. Team. Playing in the gentler morning wave, the 10 players bettered their scores by a collective nine shots from Round 1.

Ryder Cup rookie and New York native Cameron Young made 101 feet of putts for a 67 to sit at 5-under, while Collin Morikawa, who switched putters ahead of the tournament, carded a 68 to get to 5-under.

Sam Burns and Patrick Cantlay, two other captain's picks, both sat on the projected cutline of 1-under while Justin Thomas and Harris English were just inside it at 2-under.

"I'm pulling for all the (Ryder Cup) guys to play well," said Griffin. "We want to build some momentum going into the Ryder Cup. I think the European guys are ... all trying to play really well (at the BMW PGA at Wentworth) and show us what they're capable of and we're trying to show them what we're capable of ... I want them all to play well, but I want to play a little bit better."

Griffin has 36 more holes to do just that.