The post ‘The emotions were going crazy’: Pro earns PGA Tour card with wild rally appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘The emotions were going crazy’: Pro earns PGA Tour card with wild rally appeared first on Golf.

Jim Knous entered this week’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship with a special kind of pressure: The pressure of keeping his job.

This week at Port Royal marked the final start on Knous’ Minor Medical Extension, a class of PGA Tour status that allows injured players a fair chance at retaining their cards based on play. Knous had nearly earned enough points in his previous start at the Fortinet Championship, but faded to T11 with a Sunday 74.

As a result, he came to Bermuda with a simple assignment. Well, not that simple: He had to earn 3.516 FedEx Cup points. But that translates to something far more tangible: Finish 67th or better and he’d have enough points to earn conditional PGA Tour status and full Korn Ferry Tour status. Anything worse than that? No status.

“Yeah, the pressure’s immense,” he said. “I’ve just dealt with it for two years now. It’s just been weighing on me. It’s tough for my family. An injury, it was hard. I’m just proud to be fighting on and have my family’s support. It means a lot to me.”

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Knous’ week got off to a less-than-ideal start, however. He drew the worst of Thursday’s brutal weather, bogeyed seven of his first eight holes and opened with a round of five-over 76. Not great.

But on Friday, facing favorable conditions, he staged a furious rally, carding five birdies in his first 10 holes to get to even par — the exact number of the eventual cut line. He made bogey at 13 but got that back with a birdie at 14. Four holes left. But then Knous made bogey at 15 and 16 — two of Port Royal’s toughest holes — to fall outside the cut line once again.

No problem: He flagged his approach at the par-5 17th and made eagle to get back to even par.

When he tapped in for par at No. 18, he still wasn’t sure the number would be enough. But when it was, he was thrilled.

“Today, just knowing that I needed to probably shoot 5 under or better going in, it was kind of like a Korn Ferry Tour event where you know you’ve got to shoot 5 under before the day even starts to make the cut,” he said.

“I’ve been there before, I’ve done it obviously, but you know you need a good round going in. And it’s a tough mindset to have, but I knew if I just took one shot at a time, tried to do my best on every shot, you know, the results would come. Luckily, they did.”

They did indeed. But Knous’ week wasn’t over. He still had to secure a finish of 67th or better. He entered Sunday in a share of 56th — but then he got off to a rough start again, making bogey on three of his first four holes and going out in four-over 39.

That’s when Knous conjured his second rally of the week. He made birdie at No. 2 (his 11th hole of the day). Birdie at 4. Birdie at 7. And birdie at 9, just for good measure.

He signed for a round of one-over 72, no doubt the most satisfying T57 of his entire life.

“Yeah, the emotions were going crazy today,” he said after the round. “I was running through all the scenarios in my head, which is exactly what you don’t want to do, but it’s hard to block those out. Once that first tee ball was in the air, it was game time, everything kind of pushed to the back in my mind, so I was just able to focus on golf.

“But it’s emotional now. I’m happy to be done with the round, I’m happy to have played well on that back nine.”

Knous said he’ll take a moment to celebrate his newfound status — but then will come the hard work of keeping it.

“Yeah, greatest top-60 of all time. I’m going to celebrate with my caddie and my friends tonight and then my family when I get home. Then it’s back to work, job’s not done. Obviously with conditional status, the [events] I get into I have to be ready. And I plan to be ready and go low and have chances.”

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The post ‘What is that? A moose claw?’ Pro rides ANOTHER grip to PGA Tour lead appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘What is that? A moose claw?’ Pro rides ANOTHER grip to PGA Tour lead appeared first on Golf.

Jim Knous was standing over a 17-footer for the first 54-hole lead of his career on the PGA Tour, which put him on track for his first win since, according to him, the 2016 San Juan Open on the mini-tour state open circuit, and that’s when things got even weirder. 

“Yeah, I got a lot going on,” he admitted. 

There are conventional putting grips, and left-hand low putting grips, and claw putting grips, and arm-lock putting grips, and “a lot” Saturday at the Fortinet Championship. It starts with positioning his right hand below his left on the grip. Then he sways left to right. Then the right hand comes off. Then more swaying. Then the right hand returns. Then one, two, three practice strokes. Then more swaying. Then the right hand comes off again. Then it returns again. It finishes with the index finger curled along the grip and just the thumb above it.        

Then he made that 17-footer. 

“Maybe I’ll try that,” said analyst Trevor Immelman, a Masters green jacket winner, during Golf Channel’s broadcast. 

Why not? He birdied 2 at the Silverado Resort and Spa North Course on a 12-footer. And 5 on a 3-footer. And 6 on an 18-footer. And 7 on a 15-footer. And 8 on a 4-footer. And 9 on a 5-footer. And 16 on another 5-footer. And finally 18 for a seven-under 65 and a share of the lead with Maverick McNealy entering Sunday’s final round. Over three rounds, Knous has rolled in just 300 feet of putts and is fifth in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting. 

But if you’re still confused at the set-up, know that Derek from back home is too. 

“My buddy back home, Derek, he said, ‘What are you doing with that? What is that? A moose claw?’ I said yeah,” Knous said. 

“I used to just use it for practice strokes and then it just feels good so I just kind of went with it about a month ago and it’s been working great. I just tend to see the breaks pretty well out here. A lot of them have big swings and you can kind of use your imagination and that’s kind of how I like to putt so I was able to roll some nice ones in.”

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Which brings us to Sunday. In 2018, after bouncing around the mini-tours, Knous finished in the top 30 on the Korn Ferry Tour, earned his big-tour card for 2019 and made 10 of 18 cuts (including a top 10 at this tournament). But in August 2019, he needed right wrist surgery and rehab. And in March of 2020, Covid hit. The Fortinet now is his second-to-last attempt on his major medical exemption to keep his Tour card. 

“Yeah, the pressure’s huge obviously,” Knous said. “The medical extension kind of just weighs on you the whole time while you’re playing. I try to put it to the back of my mind as much as I can. Like I said, I have the mentality I’m going to attack every shot I hit and take it one shot at a time, one step at a time, one foot, left, right, left, right. As crazy as that sounds, sometimes it’s me pacing off left, right, left, right, just to dumb it down and keep it as simple as possible to not think about the overarching outcomes that could be, right?”

Much like the moose claw, Knous will have a lot going on.

“Yeah, nothing to lose really for me,” he said. “I can go out there and play free and hit the shots that I know I can hit, try to go win the tournament. I know it sounds like a lot, but I’m going to play like that because that’s when I play my best golf, when I make full committed swings, 100 percent committed swings. Trying to steer the ball and hit half shots, that’s just not how I play my best. I’m going to go out there and be committed on every shot and every putt and not be tentative at all and, like I said, try to go win the tournament and not lose it.”

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The post ‘What is that? A moose claw?’ Pro rides ANOTHER grip to PGA Tour lead appeared first on Golf.