Lanto Griffin

Griffin was born in Mount Shasta, Calif., and moved with his family at a young age to Blacksburg, Va. Was named after a spiritual master (Lord Lanto) and is very thankful for his balanced upbringing. His parents were hippies and ran a health food store, Griffin has never eaten red meat, and his diet consists of fish and poultry.
Played all four years at Virginia Commonwealth University with fellow professional Rafael Campos. The pair lived together in a small two-bedroom loft apartment a quarter-mile from campus. He was the 2009 Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year.
Turned professional in 2010 and tried to Monday qualify and played in mini-tour events. In 2011, missed the cut at The Greenbrier Classic and Wells Fargo. In 2013, won an NGA Tour event at Grand Cypress, which was his first victory as a professional.
2014 Notes: Tried to qualify for the Web.Com Tour, the Canadian Tour, and the PGA Tour Latinoamerica, failing in all tries.
2015 Notes: Played seven events on PGA Tour Latinoamerica, where he recorded a win and four top-25s in six cuts made to finish 21st on the Order of Merit. Shot 67-68-68-68 to win at the Roberto De Vicenzo Punta del Este Open at Club del Lago Golf in Maldonado, Uruguay, in November. Entered the final round in a three-way tie for the lead and won by two over pairing partner and former college roommate Rafael Campos. Made one start on the Web.com Tour, missing the cut at the Rex Hospital Open.
2016 Notes: Made 15 starts on PGA Tour Latinoamerica with nine top-25s on his way to a 47th-place finish. Had a season-best T-12th at the Copa Diners Club International.
2017 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments Entered - 24; In Money - 16; Top-10 Finishes - 3; Scoring Average - 69.98 (rank 31st); Money - $169,689 (rank 22nd); Finals Money - $54,348 (rank 20th); Priority Rank - 34th; Best Finish, Winner Nashville Golf Open. Became only the fourth player in Tour history, and first since 2004, to win on the Korn Ferry Tour after making the cut on the number at two under par. Defeated Abraham Ancer with a 20-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole. With his 34th place in the priority rankings, he earned a PGA Tour card for 2018.
2018 Notes: Played in 26 PGA Tour events, making 13 cuts with one top-25 finish. His best finish was T-12th at the Farmers Insurance Open. Was 171st in the FedExCup race, which put him in the Korn Ferry Playoffs. Before that, while defending his Nashville Golf Open title, he finished T-2nd, a stroke behind winner Cameron Davis. He finished T-5th in the Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship in the Korn Ferry Playoffs, three strokes behind the Robert Streb/Peter Malnati playoff. Missed the cut in the other three events to finish 58th in the finals priority rank, thus returning to the Korn Ferry Tour for 2019.
2019 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments Entered - 21; In Money - 16; Top-10 Finishes - 5; Scoring Average -70.05 (rank 24th); Money - $276,057 (rank 8th); Points - 1,228 (rank 6th); Priority Rank - 8th; Best Finish, Winner Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail Championship, where he defeated Robby Shelton in a playoff. He also was T-2nd at the Dormie Network Classic, five strokes behind winner Xinjun Zhang. He finished T-4th at the Pinnacle Bank Championship, where he shot 74 in the final round to finish five strokes behind winner Kristoffer Ventura. In his last event of the year, he posted a T-7th result at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship. Earned his PGA Tour card by finishing 6th on the Korn Ferry Tour regular-season points list.
2020 Notes: Played in 27 PGA Tour events, making 21 cuts with four top-10s and 14 top-25 finishes. Was 18th in the FedExCup standings. Won the Houston Open by one stroke over Scott Harrington and Mark Hubbard, earning his first career victory on the PGA Tour in his 33rd start at age 31 years, 120 days. It was his first top-10 finish. Shot 64 in the final round at the Sony Open in Hawaii to finish T-7th. Was T-9th at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. In the FedExCup playoffs, he placed T-58th at the Northern Trust, T-10th at the BMW Championship, and T-18th at the Tour Championship.
2021 Notes: Played in 29 PGA Tour events making 19 cuts with two top-ten finishes. Ranked 89th in the FedExCup standings. Was T-2nd going into the final round of the CJ Cup @ Shadow Creek, shot a closing 72, and finished T-7th. At the Farmers Insurance Open was T-7th, six shots back of winner Patrick Reed. In the FedExCup playoffs missed the cut at the Northern Trust.
2022 Notes: After an opening-round 72, shot 64-64-66 to finish T-6th, six shots back of winner Sungjae Im. Shot a final-round 66 to finish T-7th at the Zozo Championship. He finished T-3rd at The American Express, three shots back of winner Hudson Swafford, earning his second career top-three finish and first since winning the 2019 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open. Shot a final-round 67 to finish T-6th at the Wells Fargo Championship. At the end of July, he missed the cut at the U.S. Open, Travelers, and John Deere made an announcement. He said that on July 25th had microdiscectomy surgery on his L5-S1 disc. It seems that he ruptured the disc in May of 2020 and ruptured it much worst in January of 2020, picking up his baby boy in the middle of the night. He didn't want surgery so close to the FedExCup Playoffs (he was 65th after 3M) but the intense nerve pain got worse and since playing at the John Deere was unable to swing a club. So the decision was easy to have the surgery.