Ben Griffin fired eight birdies and one bogey on Friday to close with a 7-under 63, reach 11-under and take a share of the lead at the Charles Schwab Challenge.
“Got off to a good start. Made a couple of birdies. Felt like this morning the course was a little bit softer, so I was able to attack a few of the pins as opposed to yesterday afternoon and kind of into the evening. I felt like it was really firming up,” said Griffin.
“It’s a golf course that’s not that long for us on tour, but it’s very much so a positional golf course, a few dog legs. You have to try to keep it in the short grass to attack some of the pins.
“So I felt like that was kind of the goal going into the round was making sure I left myself in positions to be able to attack and take advantage of the conditions. I hit my driver great most of the day. Had a couple little hiccup holes coming in, but then bounced back with birdies on eight and nine.
“The greens were rolling great too. It’s always nice playing a morning round where you have less spike marks and the greens were rolling great.”
This is the American’s second 36-hole lead/co-lead on the PGA Tour, he is 0-for-1 to date in converting to victory (2023 Sanderson Farms Championship; finished T2).
11-under 129 equals his best opening 36-hole score on Tour (2022 Butterfield Bermuda Championship; finished T3).
Griffin is playing in his 18th start of the season and has notched five top-10 finishes (T7/The American Express, T4/Mexico Open at VidantaWorld, T4/Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches, Won/Zurich Classic of New Orleans/with teammate Andrew Novak, T8/PGA Championship).
Matti Schmid carded a bogey-free 63 to join Griffin in the lead. This marks his 15th career bogey-free round in 215 total rounds on Tour (most recent: 2025/R1/The American Express).
“I would say it was just a very solid round of golf,” said the German. “Started off hot. Had a couple of good breaks on the rough. I gauged the distance right, and I mean, I just played quality golf from there on, I would say.
“I feel like the game has been solid for a while. We did work. We always work on something. That’s just golf, but no, it was just a continuation of the solid play over the last couple of months.
“[The course is] getting really tricky. If you come out of the rough, it’s just really tough to predict how the ball is going to come out, how it’s going to react on the greens.
“I mean, if you are on the fairway, you can still shoot a score. If you hit the rough too many times, it’s going to be a challenge.”
Schmid is making his 79th start on Tour and seeking his first career win (best finishes: 2024 Shriners Children’s Open/T3, 2023 Butterfield Bermuda Championship/3rd).
He holds the 36-hole lead/co-lead for the third time on Tour and is 0-for-2 to date (2022 ISCO Championship/T8, 2024 Shriners Children’s Open/T3).
After posting his career-low PGA Tour score (63) in the first round, American John Pak recorded a 68 after making three bogeys and trails by two entering the third round. His only top-25 finish in 27 career starts came at the 2025 Mexico Open at VidantaWorld (T17).
American Chris Gotterup, who owns one victory in 56 starts on Tour (2024 ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic), carded a bogey-free 65 and moved into fourth place at 8-under. He has finished in the top 20 in each of his last four starts on Tour (best: T12/Zurich Classic of New Orleans/with teammate Quade Cummins).
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler of the United States lies in T49 at 1-under, he made the cut for his 55th consecutive made cut on Tour, second only to Xander Schauffele who holds the longest active streak with 64.
American defending champion Davis Riley misses the cut by two strokes.
