And if you aren’t, here’s a quick rundown: Knapp turned pro in 2016 and played on the PGA Tour Canada for a few years. He won twice in 2019 to earn a Korn Ferry Tour card for 2020, but he missed 20 cuts in 36 starts and lost his status. He then worked as a bouncer at a nightclub from 2021 to ’22. In August 2022, he won again on the PGA Tour Canada, which helped him earn another promotion to the Korn Ferry Tour. This time he made the most of it, recording 10 top 10s in 22 starts to earn a PGA Tour card for 2024. That’s how you become a 29-year-old PGA Tour rookie.
Knapp tied for 70th and was cut in his first two starts of the year, but he was T3 at the Farmers Insurance Open — good for a paycheck — and was T28 in Phoenix, which led to his life-changing week at the Mexico Open at Vidanta. He torched Vidanta Vallarta with a 64 on Friday and 63 on Saturday, and his closing 71 on Sunday was good for a two-shot win in just his ninth career PGA Tour start.
It was at the Farmers, and again in Mexico, when more information — thanks to his PGA Tour bio — trickled out about Knapp’s interesting past, which included his stint as a bouncer, love for the video game “Call of Duty” and the fact that he can solve a Rubik’s Cube (or, better put, that he would even choose to include that in his bio in the first place).
Here’s another fun nugget from Knapp’s bio: He said his earliest golf memory was watching Tiger Woods beat Stephen Ames 9 and 8 at the 2006 WGC Match Play, which largely was memorable for what happened afterward.
The Woods-Ames match is notable, of course, because the term “9 and 8” is now synonymous with both Woods and Ames. Before the match, Ames famously said: “Anything can happen, especially where he’s hitting the ball.” A motivated Woods then won 9 and 8 in a match that didn’t go past the 10th hole. Asked about Ames’ comments afterward, Woods simply smiled and said: “I think he understands now.”
Now back to Sunday. In his winner’s press conference, Knapp was asked about being at that particular match. He grew up in Costa Mesa, Calif., and at that time the WGC Match Play was held at La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., about an hour from Knapp’s home. He attended that year with his dad and brother.
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