When your hippy parents name you after a spiritual master—and not just any master, but Lord Lanto, an “ascended master,” a Chohan of the Second Ray of Illumination, or less formally, the Lord of Light—you sure as hell better figure out how to be all masterly in your given pursuit before your own ascension into the fifth or sixth dimension or some other spiritual destination.
And, so, it has come to pass for Lanto Griffin, who has not quite mastered the game of golf—and no man as yet has—but he is going to the Masters, a spiritual destination if ever there was one, if you’re a golfer. And, what's more, he has ascended to the very heights of the FedEx Cup standings. The look from on high must be stunning.
No less stunning, though, than Griffin's rise in his second stint on the PGA Tour.
“This is surreal,” a teary-eyed Griffin said, conjuring an interesting choice of words after sinking a six-foot par putt on the 72nd hole Sunday to secure a one-stroke victory in the Houston Open.
In just his 33rd PGA Tour start, the unassuming 31-year-old California native became the third player to break his maiden just five weeks into this new season, and he did it in all places, Humble, Texas. Griffin never owned a top-10 finish until he shot a three-under-par 69 at the Golf Club of Houston and beat fellow Korn Ferry Tour graduates Scott Harrington and Mark Hubbard with a 14-under 274 total.
He preserved his advantage with that nervy six-footer, which he celebrated by dropping his putter and then biting his hat before breaking down in tears. But the stroke that sent him ahead and seemingly was heaven sent after a back-nine stall, was a 33-foot birdie putt on the par-3 16th hole that snapped a tie with his two main contenders. It was the last of his 24 birdies, which led the field. No surprise, considering Griffin led the tour in total birdies going into the week.
“I felt eerily calm. I don't know why," Griffin said after converting his first-ever 54-hole lead on the tour and pocketing $1.35 million, nearly four times his earnings from two years earlier, when he missed the cut in half his 26 starts.
“It was really strange out there today,” he added. “I was actually battling my own mind, how calm I was and how big of a moment it was for me, but I wasn't nervous, and I was almost trying to tell myself, You should be nervous. I think I talked myself into being nervous on a few putts on the back nine, but tee to green was pretty darn good for me under pressure.”
Griffin, who improved from 176th to 108th in the Official World Golf Ranking, is from Mount Shasta, Calif., a settlement in the shadow of a volcano by the same name. Naturalist John Muir said of the place, “When I first caught sight of Mount Shasta over the braided folds of the Sacramento Valley, my blood turned to wine, and I have not been weary since.”
Um, yeah. How much transcendental foreshadowing does one guy need?
Anyway, Griffin, who was raised a strict vegetarian and still will only eat red meat when he orders the occasional pepperoni pizza, was a starving golfer who got a break when he caddied for Will Wilcox in 2014 at The Greenbrier. Wilcox finished fourth. He paid Griffin $17,000, which at the time was Griffin's biggest career paycheck. Not exactly something to buoy your confidence, but it did allow Griffin to keep pursuing his dream.
After losing his card in 2018 and going back to the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019, Griffin achieved total consciousness—or at least saw the light on competitive golf—by listening to that well-known savant, Greg Norman, at a pro-am dinner in the Bahamas.
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