At left, Lanto Griffin and friend Michael Schachner straddle the equator in Ecuador. Above, Griffin tees off at the 2016 Delta Dental State Open of Virginia.
“ If he doesn’ t know who you are, he will find out who you are. Nobody works a room better than Lanto. He’ s very much on top of things.”
movie-star looks has an innate ability to fit into any gathering in any room he may encounter.
“ Lanto knows who everybody is anytime he steps into a room,” said Roanoker Stuart Swanson, Griffin’ s longtime former caddie.
“ If he doesn’ t know who you are, he will find out who you are. Nobody works a room better than Lanto. He’ s very much on top of things.”
Griffin broke into a wide grin when being relayed Swanson’ s words.
“ I’ m very cognizant of situations and where I am,” he noted.“ So even if I’ m having a couple of drinks and I’ m walking downtown in the city, I’ m going to have my wallet in my front pocket and I’ m not going out without a buddy.
“ It’ s like any city in the U. S., I mean if you go to Chicago and you get in the wrong part of town, you are going to be in trouble. If you go to Orlando, same thing. Bad things happen in the U. S., too, except that we know where to go.”
Griffin said all the tour players stay in hotels secured by the tour on each stop. Tour officials warn players of areas where trouble often looms.
“ The hotels are always safe, always nice, something that’ s usually an American brand or a high-end brand, and they usually give us a pretty good deal. Like in Mexico, we stayed in a 20-story Marriott for 70 bucks a night. It was a full-service room deal, you get buffets for $ 10 and it’ s really good. It’ s like 5-star eating.“ So you feel like a king down there!” Griffin says he has a couple of players he always rooms with, goes to dinner with, and plays practice rounds with.
“ We might switch it up if we get tired of each other,” he said.“ Like if we go four weeks in a row and you’ re eating every meal, taking every shuttle, every taxi, every practice round together... I mean you wouldn’ t be that close to your wife! It feels like you’ re married.”
The golf course, the hotel and the restaurant. That’ s about it for the itinerary each week for the Americans on the Latinoamerica Tour.
“ The frustrating thing is we don’ t get to go and be tourists very much,” Griffin said.“ When we go to Mexico we get to the beach... the Dominican Republic was really cool.”
Griffin has struggled somewhat since his landmark victory in Uruguay, failing to produce a top-10 finish in the first half of the tour’ s schedule. He won only $ 9,313 in eight events in the first
COURTESY OF LANTO GRIFFIN; CHRIS LANG
16 V IRGINIA G OLFER | S EPTEMBER / O CTOBER 2016 vsga. org