Ben Griffin had an extra weapon around Vidanta Vallarta: another set of eyes.

In an offseason of change and adjustments for Griffin, the biggest was who was on his bag. Griffin recently parted ways with longtime caddie Alex Ritthamel, who was on the bag for Griffin’s rise to a three-time PGA Tour winner and Ryder Cupper.

Thursday was Griffin’s first round with veteran caddie Jon Yarbrough, and Yarbrough’s expertise paid off immediately. Griffin shot 7-under 64 on Thursday at the VidantaWorld Mexico Open to jump into contention in his first competitive round since his FedExCup season ended at the BMW Championship. Griffin made 159 feet of putts and gained more than four strokes on the greens, best in the field.

“Jon's really good on the greens,” Griffin said. “He's known as one of the best green readers out here, so having him today from close range was nice to help me kind of reaffirm some of my reads.”

Griffin’s first start of the Fall followed an up-and-down season. The American made it to the BMW Championship, but dropped out of an automatic qualifying spot for the Presidents Cup and was not one of Captain Brandt Snedeker's six captain's picks. After a breakthrough 2025 season, Griffin managed only four top-10 finishes this season, of which just one came after May.

The 30-year-old has played very little golf since his season ended in August. That was entirely injury-related. Griffin received PRP and hyaluronic acid injections in his left knee this offseason after an MRI revealed he had a fissure in his cartilage. Thursday’s round was Griffin's first time walking 18 holes since the final round at the BMW Championship.

Ben Griffin drains 4-foot putt for birdie on No. 8 at BMW Championship

“This is like week seven since, and they say it's supposed to kick in between six and eight weeks, so even here was pushing it a little bit, but I felt good,” Griffin said. “I'm not too worried about it really. I don't think about it on the golf course.”

Griffin showed no signs of fatigue on Thursday. He made three birdies on a mistake-free front nine, then made the turn and added an eagle and four birdies (along with two bogeys) to shoot 7 under. He momentarily held the lead alone until Kensei Hirata posted 8-under 63. Griffin holed a 41-footer for eagle at the par-5 third and drained four other putts outside 15 feet.

While the recovery kept Griffin from playing many full rounds, it let him spend more time practicing his putting. He pored over his ShotLink statistics, and the data told the story. His putting needed to improve, particularly from outside 10 feet.

“Just worked hard with the Spider on making them from long range,” Griffin said. “I tinkered with even the blade and tried to feel better from that from short range, but the Spider's just felt really good and just kind of kept rolling with it. Yeah, came in here with some confidence with the putter.”

Between the clean bill of health, the newfound confidence with his putting stroke and add in Yarbrough’s eyes, that’s how Griffin vaulted to the first page of the leaderboard in Mexico.

“It was a good day,” Griffin said.