I have the initials of my maternal grandfather, who passed away last year, tattooed on my arm and say, “Thank you, grandfather.”
Nap celebrates his victory with his girlfriend.
Jake Knapp (USA), who dreamed of becoming a PGA Tour champion while working as a security guard at a nightclub and wedding hall, reached the top of the PGA Tour in his 9th attempt.
Knapp shot an even par 71 strokes in the final round of the PGA Tour Mexico Open (total prize money of $8.1 million) held at the Vidanta Vallarta Golf Course (par 71) in Vallarta, Mexico on the 26th (Korean time). He won with 19 under par 265.
Knapp, who beat Sami Valimaki (Finland) by two strokes, enjoyed the thrill of winning for the first time in his life.
Knapp, who debuted on the PGA Tour this year, is making his 9th PGA Tour appearance, but this is his 5th appearance this year alone as a PGA Tour member.
In the previous eight appearances, he missed the cut four times.This year, he passed the cut three times, and his highest ranking was a tie for third place at the Farmers Insurance Open last January.
Dreaming of advancing to the PGA Tour, he honed his skills on the Canada Tour and Korn Ferry Tour. In 2022, he played golf during the day and worked as a nightclub security guard at night. 메이저사이트
Although he won the Canadian Tour three times, he lacked the money needed to achieve his dream of playing on the PGA Tour.
On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, I went to the nightclub in the evening and guarded the entrance.He often worked as a security guard during events such as weddings.
The dream of advancing to the PGA Tour, which seemed like an easy achievement when I was attending the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), was only achieved when I ranked 13th in points on the Korn Ferry Tour last year.
A more valuable reward to him than the winning prize of $1.458 million (about 1.94 billion won) is a two-year PGA Tour card and the right to participate in the remaining specially designated tournaments this season.He was also able to participate in the Masters.
After confirming his victory, Knapp was happy and hugged his girlfriend who was waiting on the 18th hole green.
Knapp played with the initials of his grandfather, who passed away last year, tattooed on his forearm.
He revealed that he promised to dedicate his PGA Tour championship trophy to his maternal grandfather, who had the greatest influence on him growing up as a golfer.
“He always encouraged me. If my grandfather were here today, he would probably have said, ‘Good job, now let’s eat fried chicken to celebrate the win.’” he said with tears in his eyes.
Knapp repays the support of his fans.
Knapp, who entered the final round with a 4-stroke lead, fell back with bogeys on the 1st and 3rd holes, and was only able to make one birdie until the 12th hole, giving him a tie for the lead with Ballymaki.
Perhaps because he was nervous, his tee shot shook a lot.The tee shot landed on the fairway only twice.
The game was decided at the 13th hole (par 3).
Knapp made a birdie, and Valimaki made bogey after hitting his tee shot into a bunker.
Knapp, who ran away to a two-shot lead, maintained his lead until the end.
He was happy, saying, “I knew I had to fight against nervousness. It would have been better if I had hit my driver shot better, but I overcame it.”
Knapp, who had a difficult time keeping par on the 17th hole and put his tee shot into the bunker on the 18th hole and then took care of the situation well to win without losing any strokes, pointed to the sky and whispered, “Thank you, Grandpa.”
In addition to his grandfather’s initials, Knapp also had the word ‘LTD’ tattooed on his other arm.
He explained that it means ‘Living The Dream’.
Valimaki, who was aiming to become the first Finnish person to win the PGA Tour, had to be satisfied with second place after reducing two strokes.
Kim Chan, a Korean-American, tied for 8th place (12 under par, 272 strokes) and entered the top 10 for the first time this season.Kim Chan, who maintained the lead by hitting scores in the 60s for all three days, was somewhat disappointed with an even par score of 71 on this day.
Last year’s winner, Tommy Finau (USA), tied for 13th place (11 under par, 273 strokes). 토토사이트 추천