PGA Nationwide bought its revenge on Jake Knapp on Sunday.
After Knapp fired a glowing opening-round 59 on Thursday amid grumblings from different gamers on the Cognizant Traditional that the famed Florida course was taking part in too straightforward, the 30-year-old noticed his possibilities of successful the match disappear on the eleventh gap within the last spherical.
Knapp, who was threatening to win the match wire-to-wire, mis-hit his strategy to the inexperienced and the ball ended up muddily submerged within the water down a financial institution in entrance of the inexperienced.
He may have taken a penalty and dropped additional again — because the NBC broadcasters had been imploring him to do as he made his choice — and attempt to save bogey the protected means.
As a substitute, he tried to hit the ball out of the water with one shoe on and it ended up proper again in it.
His second shot from the water bought midway up the financial institution and fortuitously rested there.
Knapp didn’t rise up and down from there and settled for a triple-bogey that pushed him all the way down to a tie for fifth.
“Could see kind of the top quarter of the ball, figured I could just kind of blast it out for the most part, and didn’t hit any of them really hard enough, unfortunately,” Knapp, described as composted after the spherical, informed Golfweek. “I just think in the moment, even now, I don’t take it back. It’s just one of those shots you just have to end up hitting a little bit harder than I did.”
It was the iron shot that put him in that place that annoyed Knapp, who gained the Mexico Open final yr.
“I think I played super solid. I mis-hit the one shot on 11 and that was kind of the only thing I’d really take back. It would have been nice to make some more putts, but the pins were more challenging today,” Knapp informed the web site.
Knapp was not alone in his struggles because the wind lastly picked up Sunday and the ultimate teams all didn’t make a run, permitting Joe Highsmith to finish a surprising weekend run with consecutive 64s to earn the primary match win of his profession.
Highsmith needed to make a 5-foot putt on 18 on Friday simply to make the lower.
“Winning was the last thing on my mind,” Highsmith, 24, informed reporters afterward. “It’s incredible to come out on top. I played probably the best round of my life.”
Highsmith charged to the highest of a crowded leaderboard with three straight birdies beginning on 9 and all however sealed the win with one other on 17.
It allowed him to play safely on the par-5 18th, making a straightforward par because the gamers behind him had been all trailing by three pictures or extra.
Together with incomes a spot within the Masters and PGA Championship, Highsmith is within the remaining 5 signature occasions, beginning subsequent week at Bay Hill.
“Did you say the Masters?” he stated. “I went last year to the tournament just as a spectator because any chance that I can get to walk out there, I’m going to take advantage of that. But to be playing in that tournament is going to be very special and, obviously, something you work towards your whole life.”
— With AP
