Jake Knapp (-16) remains the solo leader at the Cognizant Classic with 18 holes to go. The American golfer, winner of the Mexico Open last year, is seeking his second trophy on the PGA Tour. The good news is that after his stellar round of 59 strokes on Thursday, he has managed to reach the crucial moment in the first position. The bad news is that the challenges have multiplied. He has threats everywhere, and it won’t be easy to extinguish them all in the final decisive round. It will be a trial by fire.
Knapp holds a one-stroke lead over Michael Kim (-15), two over Russell Henley (-14), Doug Ghim (-14), and Ben Griffin (-14), and three over Rickie Fowler (-13) and Taylor Montgomery (-13). Many adversaries and some well-prepared. Obviously, the two names highlighted in red from this list are Henley and Fowler. The objective fact that they have the most winning experience among those near the top is compounded by the fact that Henley has won this tournament on this course. He knows how it’s done. Even those at -12 shouldn’t be ruled out of the battle, including Sepp Straka, watch out for him, or Matthieu Pavon and Daniel Berger, two who have lost ground on this moving day without being completely out of the equation.
The Champions course at PGA National is a treacherous track for the leaders. It’s not uncommon to see a winner on Sunday who came from behind, posted a good score, and forced those at the top to fight against him while also facing the brutal and ruthless Bear Trap in that final stretch. It’s Knapp’s great danger.
That said, honours to the leader. Many thought he would lose the lead precisely in those fateful holes 15, 16, and 17. He arrived very tight at his encounter with the great statue of the over two-metre bear and it seemed that it would be there where he would succumb. However, it was the opposite. In fact, Knapp struggled on the first nine holes and excelled on the return to the clubhouse. He made four birdies without error on the last nine, including a splendid one on the 16th and another of the so-called ‘easy’ ones on the 18th.
Knapp has quelled the first rebellion against his 59 today, but he still has a tough battle to fight this Sunday. The best rounds today were both 64s by Max Greevy and Joe Highsmith. If tomorrow any of those in the top 10 manage to do something similar, it will be rare not to see them succeed. It’s also worth acknowledging that it’s not easy, as the greens become really hard late in the day, complicating scoring. The big problem for Knapp is that there is a lot of parity, so some players who are not too far behind, such as Jordan Spieth (-11), Billy Horschel (-10), Nicolai Hojgaard (-10), or even the amateur Luke Clanton (-10), who paid the price today for his Friday success securing the PGA Tour card, will tee off much earlier than him.
