Who is Ben Griffin’s caddie? All you need to know about Alex Ritthamel

Alex Ritthamel is the official caddie for the PGA Tour golfer Ben Griffin. They have been working together for a while and are going strong at this week's RBC Canadian Open.

According to Ritthamel's LinkedIn profile, he attended Granada Hills High School from 2001 to 2005 and has worked in various roles over the years. He joined John Wells Golf Shop in 2004 as the sales manager and worked there for two years before joining the Rustic Canyon Golf Course, where he worked from 2007 to 2009. He has been a short-game coach since 2009 and is a PGA Tour caddie.

Before teaming up with Griffin, Ritthamel worked with several renowned PGA Tour players. He was the caddie for Taiwanese golfer C.T. Pan and was fortunate to experience his first PGA Tour victory with him.

When Pan won the 2019 RBC Heritage by defeating Matt Kuchar by one stroke, Ritthamel was on his bag, marking the first PGA Tour win for both the caddie and the golfer. Speaking of his first win as a caddie, Ritthamel said in 2019 (via The Caddie Network):

“It was a surreal feeling. I’m a real competitive guy. Coming down the stretch the last five holes when we knew we were in the lead, it was a great feeling to have knowing that if we executed our game plan, we’d have a chance to walk away with the trophy. We stuck to the plan and it paid off.”

It is important to note that Alex Ritthamel has been working as a caddie on the Web.com Tour and PGA Tour since 2010, and over the years, he has worked with several golfers, including Tommy Gainey, Matt Jones, and Andrew Landry.

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When Ben Griffin's caddie drove 12 hours to get the golfer's clubs

Earlier this year, the golf community witnessed a beautiful display of the caddie-golfer relationship when Ben Griffin's caddie, Alex Ritthamel, took a 12-hour road trip to retrieve the golfer's clubs. In February 2024, after completing the WM Phoenix Open, Griffin travelled to Los Angeles to compete in the 2024 Genesis Invitational. However, he accidentally left his golf clubs behind.

To help Griffin, Alex Ritthamel drove to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport to get his golf clubs. It was a 12-hour journey, but fortunately, the caddie made it and ensured Griffin could play with his own golf clubs at the Riviera Golf Course, the venue for The Genesis Invitational. Speaking of the incident, Griffin said (via PGA Tour):

"Story of the week. Alex went through the night with two of his buddies, got the clubs, and I was able to get a practice round in Tuesday afternoon, right before it got dark. So it was a little crazy.

“I’m used to it, playing professional golf and golf in general for most of my life; I’ve had plenty of clubs get lost, but a week like this, it was very nice of Alex and his friends to go do that. I thought they were crazy for doing it. I just needed to make sure they were here by Thursday, but always nice to get a round in with your real clubs before a tournament like this.”

Notably, Ben Griffin, who is currently playing in the ongoing RBC Canadian Open, is in a great position as he is in the top-five.