LOS CABOS, Mexico — At the World Wide Technology Championship, former University of North Carolina teammates Ben Griffin, Ryan Gerard and Austin Hitt are competing against one another on the PGA Tour.
Behind the birdies and FedEx Cup points, however, sits a story of friendship, sacrifice and perseverance that stretches back more than a decade.
This week, these three amigos are together at Diamante's El Cardonal course, but their paths to golf's biggest stage were anything but identical.
For Griffin, 30, the journey nearly ended before it truly began.
After struggling on PGA Tour Canada and the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019, Griffin made just three cuts in 12 starts and earned
only $3,808 while accumulating nearly $20,000 in credit-card debt.
"I was pretty heavy in the hole," Griffin said.
He eventually quit professional golf, moved back to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where he rented an apartment in the same complex where Gerard was living, and took a desk job as a loan officer at CIMG Residential Mortgage.
Gerard, 27, never doubted his friend's ability to return.
"I think he was so good at what he did in high school and college that he forgot that he could get better," Gerard said. "I think he lost a bit of that love of the grind."
A sponsorship from investment-management firm Lord Abbett eventually gave Griffin enough financial stability to pursue golf again without worrying about paying bills.
His mindset changed.
"I'm going to get off this tour as fast as I can," Griffin recalled.
He did exactly that, earning his PGA Tour card after one Korn Ferry Tour season before emerging as one of the Tour's rising stars.
Even after his success, Griffin leaned on his friends.
While renovating a home in Jupiter, Florida, Griffin and his now-wife, Dana, spent months living in a small studio apartment with little more than a bed, refrigerator, air fryer and putting mat.
"When we ate, we either sat on the bed or ate standing up," Griffin said.
For roughly seven months, Griffin used Gerard's townhouse to do laundry. He and Dana had a key and alarm code and came and went whenever necessary. By the time Griffin's renovations were finished, he had won three times and earned more than $11 million in 2025. Having moved tax brackets, they decided to upgrade again, landing a bigger yard. But the connection between these three friends goes far beyond lending a washing machine.
Gerard's townhouse, which features a samurai sword on a wall that he picked up while competing in the Baycurrent Classic in Japan, has evolved into the group's unofficial headquarters. A putting studio and a music corner occupy parts of the home, and Gerard's caddie, J.P. Burke, also lives there. Burke happens to be Hitt's childhood best friend and originally left a desk job to caddie for Hitt before joining Gerard's team in May.
Hitt, 28, moved into the house more than a year ago. Living together, he admits, comes with one particular responsibility: cleaning up after his roommate.
Their friendship dates even further. Gerard and Hitt were teammates on an AJGA Wyndham Cup team as teenagers, while Griffin hosted Hitt on his recruiting visit to North Carolina and helped convince him to become a Tar Heel.
At UNC, Hitt became known for something that wasn't exactly flattering.
"We used to call him Austin Putt because he was the worst putter on the team," Gerard joked.
Griffin even hid Hitt's clubs at one point, leaving him with only a putter as encouragement to practice. The teasing eventually paid off.
"He went from being probably the worst putter on the team to a top 30 putter in the world now," Gerard said.
For Hitt, the PGA Tour had been the dream since childhood. Growing up in Florida, he watched players such as Chris DiMarco, Matt Kuchar and Sam Ryder at the Legacy Club in Heathrow and realized professional golf was attainable. Still, his path took longer than those of his friends.
Last season, Hitt finished 30th on the Korn Ferry Tour points list, but only the top 20 earned PGA Tour cards after a reduction in available promotions. He entered the season finale on the outside looking in but saved his best for last, winning the Korn Ferry Tour Championship to secure his card.
Watching it unfold was an emotional experience for Griffin. During a press conference this week, Griffin was asked about Hitt earning PGA Tour status.
"He's like a little brother to me," Griffin said.
His eyes began to well up, and his voice tightened.
“I don't know why I'm getting emotional,” Griffin said.
“It's because you care,” Cari Weber, World Wide Technology vice president of marketing, responded.
Griffin agreed, acknowledging he had also cried when Hitt won. The achievement carried extra weight because Hitt's father, a prominent Virginia amateur golfer, passed away a few years ago. Seeing Hitt clinch his Tour card in Virginia made the moment even more emotional for those closest to him.
For Hitt, Griffin's reaction meant a great deal.
"That was super nice," Hitt said. "Ben's the man. He and Ryan were the first two people to phone me when I stepped off the green."
Gerard, competing in Japan that week, followed every shot despite the time difference.
"It's probably the most nervous I've ever been watching someone play golf at 2 in the morning," he said.
Their friendship also shares ties to this very tournament.
Two years ago, Hitt received a sponsor exemption into the WWT Championship, giving him his first Tour start. That same year, Gerard Monday qualified and finished T-14. A year later, Griffin captured the title with a tournament-record score of 29 under.
Now they arrive in Los Cabos as bona fide PGA Tour players. Gerard and Griffin ranking as the highest-ranked players in the field, while Hitt is getting a taste of life in the big leagues with momentum and confidence before his rookie season.
There is a common trait that links his two friends, according to Hitt.
"They have two of the most confident, elite mindsets that I've been around," he said.
Professional golf can often be an isolating pursuit. Players spend much of the year traveling, away from family and friends, chasing results week after week. That reality makes their support system especially valuable.
In a sport built around individual achievement, Griffin, Gerard and Hitt have found something rarer. Together, they created a home away from home where successes are celebrated, struggles are shared and nobody has to navigate the journey alone.
"It's nice to have guys around because it's a lonely world, man, when you're traveling all the time," Gerard said. "It's nice to come home and it's just me, Austin, J.P., a bunch of putting greens and a samurai sword. That's about it."
And, of course, a washing machine Griffin can still use whenever he wants.
This week in Los Cabos, the three amigos are chasing the same trophy. But their greatest accomplishment may already be the friendship that helped bring them here.
Adam Schupak is a senior writer for Golfweek, covering the PGA Tour.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: 3 Amigos: How Ben Griffin, Ryan Gerard and Austin Hitt helped one another reach the PGA Tour
