PALM BEACH GARDENS – Perhaps the only thing harder than shooting a 59 on the PGA Tour is to back that score up the next day.
Jake Knapp made history in Thursday’s first round of the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches when he became just the 14th player to shoot 59 or better on the PGA Tour. How historic is this? Almost as many men have walked on the moon (12) than shot a 59 or below on the PGA Tour.
Knapp knew it wasn’t going to be an easy round Friday, and it wasn’t. His 59th shot came when he two-putted for double bogey on the sixth hole (his 15th) of the Champion course. By then, his four-shot lead at PGA National had evaporated.
But he birdied his last hole for a 1-under 70 and a one-shot lead over Matthieu Pavon, which earned Knapp a different kind of history: He became the first player to lead a PGA Tour event after 36 holes without shooting a round in the 60s. The last to do it was Jim Furyk, who shot 72-59 at the 2013 BMW Championship to tie for the lead.
“I’ve never had to follow up a 59 at a tournament before,” said Knapp, whose lone PGA Tour victory came last year in Mexico. “It’s all new to me. Obviously, yesterday was picture-perfect; everything was going exactly where I wanted it to. And my distance control was really good.”
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Knapp opened with a birdie on the 10th hole, his 13th in 19 holes, but didn’t make another birdie until making one at the third hole. He added another birdie at the fourth hole to extend his lead to two shots. But Knapp’s tee ball at the tough sixth hole found the water, leading to the double bogey that cost him the lead to Pavon.
“Today I struggled a little bit with my distance,” said Knapp, who worked as a bouncer while struggling on mini-tours. “I felt like I was still swinging well. It just seemed like the ones that were teetering kind of teetered the wrong way.”
Pavon, a Frenchman who’s a member at Dye Preserve in Jupiter, came out red-hot Friday. He eagled his first hole (the par-5 10th) and added birdies on the next two holes to move into contention. He added five more birdies and two bogeys for a 7-under 64 to move to 12-under 130.
“Tenth hole was the perfect start, the dream start,” Pavon said. “I think it was playing a little bit tougher, the pins were a little trickier. But we’ve had two beautiful days here, which is unbelievable.”
While Knapp was stuck in the Jake Parr show, a familiar name – Jupiter’s Daniel Berger – climbed the leaderboard. Berger who has almost won the tournament twice – he lost a playoff to Padraig Harrington in 2015 and seven years later, lost a five-shot lead entering the final round (when Sepp Straka won) – shot 68, but that included a 37 on the back nine. He was fortunate to bogey the par-4 11th when his approach landed in the muck just short of the green.
“I just kind of lost a little steam on the back nine,” said Berger, also a Dye Preserve member. “I don’t know if I didn’t eat enough food, but I started to feel a little bit off there. Hit a bad 9-iron (at No. 11), plugged it in the hazard, and I actually got away with one just to make a bogey there. It could have been a lot worse. To be right there with a chance on the weekend is kind of what you’re looking for.”
Berger is tied for third place at 11-under 131 with Michael Kim (66), Doug Ghim (63) and Jesper Svensson (67). Rickie Fowler, the 2017 champ, also was making a move until he double bogeyed the par-3 15th. He’s tied for seventh at 10-under 132 with Taylor Montgomery (65) and Zach Johnson (66).
“Really just one swing that cost me two today,” Fowler said. “It was kind of just a funky number, and with a left pin, I tried hitting kind of a soft 6-iron in there and just really didn’t move through it well, kind of came out of it in a way.”
The Champion course, usually a monster, has become softer than a middle brownie. The scoring average in the second round was about a shot higher than Thursday, but at 69.0 after two rounds, the field is headed for one of the lowest scoring averages in the tournament’s 53-year history. The cut came at 5-under 137, matching Mark Wilson’s winning score at PGA National in 2007.
The Champion course has been made docile by light winds, soft greens, overseeded Ryegrass that has made the fairways wider and the chipping more predictable. But Shane Lowery, runner-up to Straka in 2022, is only six back, believes the Champion will throw some counter punches the final two rounds.
“There’s a lot of golf to play this weekend, and I think even I’ve seen this morning the course is firming up, and it will firm up as the week goes on and it won’t be as easy,” Lowery said. “I’m very happy the position I’m in.”
So is Knapp. He knows that less than half the players who shot 59 or lower failed to win the tournament (5-of-14). He got away with a so-so round Friday. He won’t have that luxury the next two days.
“You can’t really overdo it on this course,” Knapp said. “You can’t overpower it or anything like that. Just got to take what it gives you. I’m sure we’ll have some wind tomorrow afternoon. Just try to give myself as many birdie looks as I can and just play good, boring golf.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Jake Knapp, uneven after historic round, holds lead at Cognizant Classic
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