No One Has Ever Made 59 Look Cooler Than Jake Knapp

As the late, great Stuart Scott used to say, Jake Knapp is as cool as the other side of the pillow.

His personality, his golf swing, his demeanor on the golf course, his swagger. I’m not sure anyone has ever made golf look more chill than the former bouncer. And on Thursday, he made 59 look effortlessly cool.

While defending his title south of the border last week, Knapp made the cut on the number so any hope of going back-to-back was gone by Friday afternoon. However, he found something with his game over the final 36 holes, posting scores of 68-66.

And that has carried over to the Cognizant Classic.

Knapp tore apart PGA National on Thursday, making birdies on his first five holes of the day and adding another on the ninth to go out in 6-under 29. As soon as a player puts a sub-30 score on their card, their mind immediately goes to one thing and one thing only: the 59 Club.

It’s only been done 14 times on the PGA TOUR, so Knapp would immediately join rarified air if he were to post a back-nine 30.

He did just that.

Knapp took care of the par-5 10th and stuffed his approach on 11 to six feet and poured in the putt. After leaving a birdie bid on 12 a few inches short right in the jaws, Knapp hit it to 12 feet at the 13th and buried it. A hole later, he stuck it to six feet from 150 and made another easy three at the par-4 14th.

To start his trip around the infamous Bear Trap, Knapp took all the trouble out of play on the par-3 15th and hit it 30 feet past the flag.

Surprise! He drained it. The camera was right behind Knapp when he took his stroke, and at no point was his ball ever not going in the hole. Just as pure as it gets.

After finding the fairway on 16, he pulled his approach just a bit, leaving himself 23 feet for birdie. The putt slipped by the right edge and he cleaned up from three feet for par. On the final hole of the Bear Trap, Knapp left himself 12 feet for birdie after another stellar iron shot, but his putt lipped out. Sitting at 11 under, Knapp needed a birdie at the par-5 18th to shoot the 15th sub-60 round in TOUR history.

He’s ranked 10th in clubhead speed and we saw that on full display with his final driver of the day, a 335-yard bomb that left him a mere 200 yards from history. With 6-iron in hand, Knapp made one of his best passes of the day, his ball finishing less than 19 feet from the hole.

His bid for 58 was right all the way, but a tap-in for 59 is as good as it gets.

The previous course record of 61 was set by Brian Harman in 2012. The man from Costa Mesa, California, blew that out of the water.

Should you be surprised that Knapp went deep? Well, yeah, it’s a 59. That never happens. But there were signs.

He made his tournament debut last season and grabbed a share of fourth, so he likes the golf course. Through the Mexico Open, Knapp was first on TOUR in total birdies and 10th in total eagles. Plus he was eighth in Strokes Gained: Approach at VidantaWorld and 15th at the Genesis Invitational, so he was hitting it really well coming into the week. The putter just had to get hot and Knapp was on the verge of something special.

And it all came together on Thursday.

There’s a lot of golf left, and anything can happen over the next three days, but it’s tough to imagine Knapp will get rattled leading the pack.

But the best part of it all? We get to watch this guy’s golf swing A LOT this weekend.

Welcome to the 59 Club, Mr. Knapp.