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MEMPHIS, TN – AUGUST 12: Ben Griffin during the third round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship on August 12, 2023 at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee. Photo by Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire GOLF: AUG 12 PGA, Golf Herren – FedEx St. Jude Championship EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon230812144
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via Imago
MEMPHIS, TN – AUGUST 12: Ben Griffin during the third round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship on August 12, 2023 at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee. Photo by Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire GOLF: AUG 12 PGA, Golf Herren – FedEx St. Jude Championship EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon230812144
Injuries are part and parcel of the game known as golf. But there are times when the wounds that the golfer experiences are not because of the sport but for another reason entirely. That is exactly what happened with Ben Griffin and his eye. He had, unfortunately, experienced retinal holes in his eyes, resulting in the need for a procedure the week after the ongoing event, the RBC Canadian Open.
The golfer was spotted in an interview after the third round of play at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club while mentioning the same. Griffin was queried about the injury, following which he divulged the need for laser work as well as the reason behind the holes inside his eyes: lattice degeneration.
Ben Griffin comes out candid behind his injury
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“Yeah, I got to get laser work,” admitted Griffin when asked about the procedure. He further added how he had four retina holes in his left eye as well as one in his right, all thanks to lattice degeneration, or a thinning of the retina. “I got holes connecting my retina to my eye, so if I don’t repair them, I’m at risk of retina detachment, so I’ve got to get those filled to try to keep that issue so I don’t have to think about it too much.” Well. it looks like the athlete is in for a tough week.
Griffin revealed how he found out about the condition last year owing to his nearsightedness. He disclosed, “I wear contacts and my vision is 20/20 with contacts in, but my eye’s basically, instead of it being a perfect circle, it’s more of an oval and so it’s stretched out. So the retina that attaches is kind of being stretched as well as the eye gets smaller. So I found out I had that…” This, consequently, makes him open to the risk of getting holes in the retina and detachment if the pro is not on top of it while getting fixes from time to time.
“So I might be blind on like Wednesday,” added Ben Griffin while alluding to the laser treatment he was planning on getting on the day before. The 28-year-old then expressed his desire to make it to Pinehurst No. 2 for his 1st U.S. Open appearance: “I’ve never done it before so. I’ll probably have like a 24-hour or 48-hour recovery or something like that and then be back at it hopefully at the U.S. Open.”
— Ben Griffin (@bengriffingolf) June 1, 2024
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Although he has been sporting the injury in his eye for a while now, that hasn’t stopped the pro from dishing out an amazing performance on the greens. Griffin has, after three days of play, placed himself at T2 while being tied with two others at the RBC Canadian Open.
An eye-catching performance despite the injury by Griffin
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The golfer is currently tied for second place with the likes of Mackenzie Hughes and Ryan Fox with scores of an overall 10-under. The PGA Tour had carded a total of 16 birdies and six bogeys over the three rounds, 7 birdies and 2 bogeys of which came on Saturday alone.
Such a performance has helped Ben Griffin jump from the 10th spot to the top rungs of the leaderboard while providing himself with a chance to clinch the trophy on Sunday. His fans, along with many in the community, would surely want him to emerge victorious at the event and go ahead with the surgery in high spirits. And for that, he needs to beat the likes of the other golfers in the field, including Robert MacIntyre, not to mention Fox and Hughes.