PGA dreams driving golfers competing on Mackenzie Tour
Golf is a game to be played in the moment. Not getting ahead of yourself. Not dwelling on the past.
Yet, for guys like Jake Knapp, who will tee it up in the Mackenzie TOUR-PGA Tour of Canada 1932 by Bateman Open, which gets underway Thursday at the Edmonton Country Club, they are all really playing for tomorrow.
“Getting to the PGA has been my goal forever,” said Knapp, 25. “Ever since I was three years old and could pick up a club, I’ve been dreaming of playing the PGA.”
After playing seven Mackenzie Tour events, Southern California’s Knapp is one step closer to that goal.
The Order of Merit leader at the end of the season gets an automatic exemption into the Korn Ferry Tour, formerly the Web.com Tour, where the top 25 move onto the PGA’S big stage.
Right now, Knapp is leading the Order of Merit with earnings of $111,050, but that’s less than $7,000 ahead of France’s Paul Barjon.
“Winning the Order of Merit means everything to me,” said Knapp, who this season has won two Mackenzie Tour events and also has a second and a third.
Knapp also won one of the Mackenzie TOUR-PGA Tour Canada’s Q-schools.
“I want to get onto the PGA as fast as I can. I’ve proven myself on this Tour.
“The Korn Ferry is the next step, and then it’s to finish Top 25 on that Tour,” he said referring to the Top 25 on the Korn Ferry moving onto the PGA.
As far as talent goes, it’s a pretty fine line between the Korn Ferry and the Mackenzie Tour.
“If you can win out here, you can just about anywhere. If you took the (Korn Ferry) fields out to the courses we play, the numbers would be pretty close to the same thing.”
This year has been a quantum leap from what Knapp did the last two years on the Mackenzie Tour.
Last year, Knapp finished 107th on the Order of Merit. In 2017, he was 57th.
But don’t let that mislead you. Knapp had been fighting some serious back issues the last two years: two compressed discs and one bulging disc.
“I went three months last year without playing any golf at all. No putting. No chipping. No nothing.”
Knapp said he let his back problems, which came on gradually, heal by themselves.
“It’s been feeling good since February.”
Knapp, who made the cut at the RBC Canadian Open earlier this year with a birdie-eagle-crazy-upand-down finish on Friday, said he knew he had this kind of year in him.
“I think I expected it. I’ve put a lot of hard work into my game the last seven or eight months,” he said. “This year, I’m playing very well and I’m happy to be in the position I’m in.”
You have to go really deep to get to the winner’s circle on the Mackenzie Tour, which will be the case in Edmonton, too.
Knapp’s first win of the season came in the Tour’s first event of the year: The Canada Life Open at the Point Grey golf course in Vancouver. Knapp shot 21-under, punctuated by a final round of 64, when he birdied four of his final five holes.
In that tournament, he played the back-nine Par 5s in 7-under.
Two weeks later, at the Golf BC Championship at Gallagher’s Canyon in Kelowna, Knapp won again. He shot 20-under with an 8-under 63 on the final day in a bogey-free round that included six birdies and an eagle.
More recently, Knapp finished third with a 21-under total at Ontario’s Osprey Valley Open.
Then, in the most recent Mackenzie Tour event, he was 22-under, good for solo second at the HFX Pro-am.
In the latter two tournaments, Knapp shot under 70 in each of the four rounds.
One of the longest hitters on Tour — only his hair, which he hasn’t cut in over a year, is longer — Knapp drives the ball 320 yards off the tee.
“It’s definitely an advantage. And it’s definitely been a big part of my game. Some courses are set up for long hitters,” he said.
“But keeping it in play is still the most important thing.”
An athlete, Knapp also excelled at soccer, baseball and basketball when he was growing up.
“I was spreading myself too thin. Some days, I’d have a soccer game in the morning and then golf in the afternoon. It was getting ridiculous.
“In my sophomore year in high school, I decided to play only golf. I’m happy with the decision I made.”
STOCK REPORT: The 1932 by Bateman Open is four rounds, Thursday through Sunday. General admission costs $20 at the gate. Kids 14 and under get in free. Kids 15 and under get free hotdogs. Military personnel and their families get in free on Saturday, while first responders and their families get in free on Sunday.