Ben Griffin suggests Rory McIlroy is regularly not playing golf courses as they are designed to be played

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Ben Griffin and Rory McIlroy are two of this year’s PGA Tour winners in the field for the Travelers Championship.

McIlroy has won the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Players Championship, and The Masters this season, while Griffin’s two victories came at the Zurich Classic and Charles Schwab Challenge.

Besides Scottie Scheffler, they have arguably been the two best players on the Tour in 2025, albeit they go about their business in different ways.

McIlroy’s style is much more about physicality, which has actually inspired Griffin to make changes to his training regime.

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Ben Griffin says Rory McIlroy is too good for some golf courses

Griffin spoke about driving distance in his press conference before the Travelers Championship.

He estimates that he’s “slightly above average” on the PGA Tour at the moment, but he would like to join McIlroy at the top.

Griffin explained that watching McIlroy “overpower golf courses” inspired him to work towards finding more distance off the tee.

While that is not how many courses were designed to be played, he realizes that there is a significant advantage to be had if you can drive over trouble.

“70th. Very much middle of… maybe slightly above average. Yeah, it’s been a good goal of mine to try to increase that,” Griffin shared.

“I’ve watched way too many tournaments seeing Rory McIlroy just overpower golf courses and take bunkers out of play, and there’s a lot of talk about the ball rollback and other hot topics like that about golf course design and us players… certain players aren’t playing courses how they’re designed.

“But for me, as a player, I’ve got to take advantage of the opportunity to be able to do that. It’s been really fun to try to train harder and be more conscious of swinging harder and trying to make golf as easy as possible because it’s a very difficult game.”

Justin Thomas and Adam Scott think Rory McIlroy is greatest driver ever

Fellow PGA Tour players Justin Thomas and Adam Scott both believe that McIlroy is the greatest driver of all time.

When asked to build the perfect golfer by taking attributes from different players, Thomas replied: “Driving, I am going Rory for sure.”

Scott was asked a similar question and said, “Of course, Rory’s driving is just off the charts. It’s hard to think he’s not the best driver of the golf ball ever.”

McIlroy’s driving has not been perfect lately, but has shown incredible consistency and longevity with the club during his career.