Minutes after winning his first tournament at the age of 29 on the PGA Tour, Jake Knapp openly confessed the first lesson he had learned from his victory at the Mexico Open. Any revolutionary technical adjustment? The ultimate feeling in the swing? A crucial chat with his mental coach before the last round? To look or not to look at the electronic screens with the results? A different and infallible way of reading the falls on the greens? None of that. What he learned and is determined to apply from now on until the end of his days is to arrive earlier at the golf course. Just like that.
Let the reader of Ten Golf who does not feel identified with this story raise their hand. How many times have we arrived running to the 1st tee, with hardly any time to throw two putts, of course without warming up and five hours later we wonder why we have only made 24 points. Well, believe it or not, professionals also experience this from time to time.
Knapp assured yesterday after lifting the trophy at Vidanta Vallarta that he slept soundly on Saturday night, woke up early on Sunday and, even so, time caught up with him. “What do I learn from my victory? You can always learn something important from all experiences, good or bad. Today I learned something about myself and my behaviour when I am under as much pressure as today. I feel that all my mistakes (he only took two streets all day) come from the same cause: I should have warmed up a little more in the morning. I was too rushed in the process of getting to the 1st tee. Next time I will arrive earlier at the course. I plan to give myself more time and not put so much pressure on myself, because after all the goal should be to lower your heart rate instead of raising it”.
Well, you know, let’s all start taking good note of these wise tips.
Knapp’s story is curious. His first memory on a golf course was at a WGC Match Play in Arizona. Tiger Woods thrashed Stephen Ames. The end of the match caught him there and he was one of the kids who shouted to get a souvenir from his idol. Steve Williams, Tiger’s caddie at the time, gave him a ball. He was lucky. Since then and until today he has it prominently displayed on his home desk.
He is a PGA Tour rookie at 29, something that indicates that there is, at least, an interesting and different story behind him. Although he does not explain it, it gives the impression that his golf was another victim of COVID. He turned professional in 2016 and after some ups and downs on different mini-tours, something that is not so unusual, he had a great season on the PGA Tour Canada in 2019, with two victories, a second place and a third. His excellent performance allowed him to make the jump to the Korn Ferry Tour. He quickly stood out. He was ninth in Mexico, just before the world stopped because of the coronavirus. His golf also stopped. Crisis.
When he returned from the break, nothing was the same. He chained bad results in 2020 and 2021 on the Korn Ferry Tour, lost the category and for nine months between the autumn of ’21 and the spring of ’22 he worked as a doorman at a nightclub in Scottsdale. He returned to the PGA Tour Canada, had another great year, won another tournament and his evolution has been unstoppable. In 2023 he had a very good season on the Korn Ferry Tour. He didn’t win, but he added 10 top 10s. Now, his life has taken a 180-degree turn. For quality and punch, he must be put on the radar. How far his ambition goes will determine his ceiling.
