Knapp hangs on in Mexico, secures Masters spot

Tiger Woods shot 29 over his first nine holes and finished with an 8-under-par 62 to hold the early lead at the BMW Championship, the third of four FedEx Cup playoff events.

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Kenny Knox had to Monday qualify to earn a spot in The Honda Classic in 1986. He shot 80 in the third round. And he won the tournament. “It’s almost unbelievable, really. If it hadn’t happened to me, I wouldn’t believe it,â€� Knox said recently. It still ranks as one of the most improbable victories in PGA TOUR history. He was the first Monday qualifier to win on the PGA TOUR since the creation of the all-exempt circuit; only three players have done it since. He remains the only player since the 1920s to win a TOUR event with a score in the 80s. And he did it with an improbable series of Sunday hole-outs. He chipped in once and holed a bunker shot to salvage a bogey. “The hole just kept getting in the way,â€� he said afterward. Knox beat a field that included the World Golf Hall of Famers who’d win that year’s Masters (Jack Nicklaus) and U.S. Open (Raymond Floyd). Knox, meanwhile, spent the week staying in a stranger’s two-bedroom apartment. It all happened in Knox’s first start in nearly five months. He started 1986 with just a sliver of conditional status. In three previous PGA TOUR seasons, he’d finished 146th, 186th and 168th on the money list. He’d notched just one top-10, a T8 in the 1985 Pensacola Open, and earned just under $50,000. It got so bad that fellow TOUR player J.C. Snead, Sam’s nephew, stepped in to help Knox with his swing. “I guess he felt sorry for me,â€� Knox said. Knox was playing well on the mini-tours in early 1986, but didn’t have the money to travel to the West Coast. He spent the first two months of the year clearing trees from a lot he’d recently purchased in Tallahassee, Florida. On weekends, he’d watch PGA TOUR telecasts while riding a stationary bike in his townhouse. “I’m not sure I had ever run a chainsaw,â€� Knox said. “I started clearing that lot and visualizing my house being built there. I was always kind of a dreamer.â€� He had just a couple thousand dollars in the bank and was struggling to make his mortgage. His sponsors had recently decided to stop giving him financial support. “I said, ‘That’s fine.’ I always played better with my own money anyway,â€� Knox recalled. And so, when the TOUR came to Florida, he plunked down $100 to enter The Honda Classic’s Monday qualifier. That dropped his bank balance to $2,200. He didn’t play a practice round because the course was too crowded with weekend play, but his 67 was enough to earn his first start since October. Bad weather limited Knox’s Tuesday practice round to nine holes. He couldn’t play the course Wednesday because of the pro-am. It didn’t matter. Knox’s 66 gave him a two-shot lead after the first round. “Here I am, staying with a guy I’d never met before in his two-bedroom apartment,â€� Knox said. “He came out to the course to look for my score and he couldn’t find my name because it was at the top. He figured he’d start at the bottom and look.â€� Knox’s new roommate wasn’t the only one who was surprised. A local newspaper headline read, “Knox (who?) leads Honda by 2.â€� He led by one after a second-round 71. One of his birdies came after a free drop from an anthill built by fire ants. That allowed him to move his ball from behind a tree. The wind started to pick up in the second round, which was just a harbinger of things to come. Freezing temperatures and high winds hit in the third round. Port-o-Lets were blown over by the 45 mph gusts. Knox remembers wearing multiple sweaters to combat the cold. “Back then, our weather apparel was nothing. You wore as many sweaters you as could find and still be able to swing,â€� Knox said. “I was still swinging pretty well even with all the clothes I had on.â€� He made the turn in 38, a good score for the conditions. He played his next five holes in 5 over, though. That included a double-bogey on 14 after the cameras showed up. “I hit it in the right bunker. I looked across the green and pointing right at me was a camera and it had the red light on. Even I knew what that meant,â€� Knox said. “I bladed it across the green. The cameraman had to jump out of the way.â€� It was getting dark as they wrapped up play. Knox made par after hitting driver-driver into the par-4 18th hole. He shot 80, but was just two shots off the lead. The average score that day was 79.25. No one broke par. Tom Weiskopf, a 16-time TOUR winner, shot 86 while playing alongside Knox. Andy North, who won his second U.S. Open a year earlier, shot 84. Floyd, Hale Irwin and Fred Couples all shot 81. “I went to bed thinking, ‘Maybe we’ll get rained out and I’ll finish fourth,’â€� Knox said. That would’ve been a career-changing result. But his peers implored him to set his sights higher. “Chi Chi (Rodriguez) called me Fort, as in Fort Knox. He said, ‘Fort, you can win this golf tournament,â€� Knox said. “I kind of stopped and looked behind me. I didn’t know if he was talking to me. I hadn’t thought about winning the tournament.â€� He couldn’t avoid it after a magical start to the day. It started with a chip-in for birdie on the third hole. He holed a 40-footer for birdie on the next hole. He was just short of the par-5 fifth hole in two shots. He wasn’t sure if his ball was plugged, but he was too nervous to call a rules official, so he chopped it out and made the 10-footer for a third consecutive birdie. The biggest miracle came two holes later. He’d switched to a set of beryllium Ping Eye2 irons a month earlier and started using a new ball, the Maxfli DDH, that week. “I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. I was just happy to be in the golf tournament,â€� Knox said. “The Maxfli rep told me this ball would go beautifully through the wind. The irons and the ball, it was a great combo.â€� His 4-iron tee shot on the par-3 seventh was headed straight for the flag, but his ball flew through the wind and over the green, plugging into the back bunker. Knox’s first bunker shot came out hot and rolled into a lake. After a penalty stroke, he played from the same location. He heard a voice say three times, “Just make it.â€� “The third time it was audible. I drew the club back and everything was in slow-mo,â€� Knox said. “The ball came out perfect, it checked up and trickled down into the hole. The crowd went crazy. My caddie was moon-walking. I was fist-pumping. It was a sight to behold.â€� He made nine pars and a birdie over the next 10 holes. The tournament was in hand once hit his approach on 18 to 30 feet. He lagged to 2 1/2 feet, but missed the par putt. He had to wait and watch as Andy Bean and Clarence Rose both missed birdie putts that would’ve tied him. Bean, Rose, Jodie Mudd and John Mahaffey all tied for second, one stroke back. Mahaffey went on to win THE PLAYERS a few weeks later. But they couldn’t catch Knox after a magical week. “This proves that a lot of people on the PGA TOUR can win a golf tournament,” Knox said that day. “This proves it right here.”

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The PGA TOUR uses a standardized system for determining event fields, based off the current season’s Priority Ranking while also including additional exemption and qualifying categories. Field sizes can vary by event, as can the number of event-specific exemptions. Fully exempt PGA TOUR members are guaranteed entry into all full-field events, with various conditional categories subject to periodic reshuffles based upon FedExCup Points accrued throughout the season. Categories with ‘reshuffle’ notation indicate that a reshuffle period has occurred. Scroll below for the Shriners Children’s Open field list as of Friday, Sep. 30 at 5 p.m. ET: Check here for updates. Winner of U.S. Open Championship (five-year exemption) Gary Woodland Winner of THE PLAYERS Championship (five-year exemption) Si Woo Kim Winner of Arnold Palmer Invitational, Memorial Tournament and Genesis Invitational (three-year exemption) Patrick Cantlay Max Homa PGA TOUR tournament winner (two-year exemption) Ryan Brehm Cameron Champ Stewart Cink Joel Dahmen Cam Davis Jason Day Tyler Duncan Harris English Rickie Fowler Lucas Herbert Jim Herman Garrick Higgo Tom Hoge Sungjae Im Joohyung Kim Matt Kuchar Martin Laird Andrew Landry K.H. Lee Trey Mullinax J.T. Poston Seamus Power Chad Ramey Chez Reavie J.J. Spaun Robert Streb Nick Taylor Michael Thompson Brendon Todd Richy Werenski Career money exemption Jason Dufner Ryan Moore Rory Sabbatini Jimmy Walker * Sponsor’s exemption (Korn Ferry Tour Finals) Vincent Norrman Trevor Werbylo Sponsor’s exemption (members not otherwise exempt) Thomas Detry Charley Hoffman Sponsor’s exemption (unrestricted) Chris Gotterup Cole Hammer Quinn Riley Patrick Welch PGA Club Professional Champion – Six Events Jesse Mueller PGA Section Champion\Player of the Year Derek Deminsk Top 30 on the FedExCup Playoffs and Eligibility Points List Aaron Wise Brian Harman Top 125 Prior Seasons FedExCup Playoffs & Eligibility Points List Davis Riley Denny McCarthy Maverick McNealy Keith Mitchell Kurt Kitayama Andrew Putnam Taylor Pendrith Mito Pereira Christiaan Bezuidenhout Emiliano Grillo Troy Merritt Adam Hadwin Taylor Moore Chris Kirk Alex Noren Wyndham Clark Lee Hodges John Huh Beau Hossler Brandon Wu Matthew NeSmith Dylan Frittelli Ryan Palmer David Lipsky Adam Schenk Aaron Rai Stephan Jaeger Patrick Rodgers Russell Knox Adam Svensson Kevin Streelman Mark Hubbard Peter Malnati Danny Lee Hayden Buckley Sam Ryder Vince Whaley Nate Lashley James Hahn Greyson Sigg Scott Piercy Callum Tarren Max McGreevy Chesson Hadley Nick Watney Doug Ghim Kevin Tway Matthias Schwab Patton Kizzire Kramer Hickok Matt Wallace Austin Smotherman Justin Lower # Major medical extension Nick Hardy Kyle Stanley Zac Blair Korn Ferry Tour Points winners (The 25 and The Finals 25) Justin Suh Top 50 Finishers from the Korn Ferry Tour Finals (2022) Carl Yuan Will Gordon Paul Haley II David Lingmerth Zecheng Dou Austin Eckroat Robby Shelton Philip Knowles MJ Daffue Michael Gligic Taylor Montgomery Dean Burmester Ben Taylor Eric Cole S.H. Kim Joseph Bramlett Harry Hall Austin Cook Brandon Matthews Augusto Núñez Henrik Norlander Byeong Hun An Ben Martin Erik Barnes Ryan Armour Ben Griffin Nicholas Lindheim Davis Thompson Brent Grant Michael Kim Carson Young Tyson Alexander Scott Harrington Harrison Endycott Tano Goya Kevin Roy Nico Echavarria Anders Albertson Samuel Stevens Chun-an Yu Matti Schmid Brice Garnett Trevor Cone Brian Stuard Kyle Westmoreland Top Finishers from Korn Ferry Tour Medical Chris Stroud Nos. 126-150 on prior season’s FedExCup Points List (reshuffled) Harry Higgs Martin Trainer Hank Lebioda Cameron Percy Andrew Novak Jonathan Byrd Bill Haas Dylan Wu Beyond No. 150 on prior season’s FedExCup Points List Sean O’Hair William McGirt Vaughn Taylor Sung Kang Camilo Villegas Kevin Chappell Seung-Yul Noh Scott Brown Grayson Murray Tommy Gainey Aaron Baddeley Robert Garrigus Bo Van Pelt Fabián Gómez Mark Hensby David Hearn Ricky Barnes Greg Chalmers Cody Gribble D.A. Points J.J. Henry Ben Crane D.J. Trahan Johnson Wagner Derek Ernst Arjun Atwal John Merrick George McNeill Paul Goydos Ryuji Imada Richard S Johnson Omar Uresti Ted Potter, Jr. Brian Davis Kevin Stadler Matt Every Jeff Overton Daniel Chopra Past Champion member Carl Pettersson Jason Bohn Frank Lickliter II Jonathan Kaye Will MacKenzie Len Mattiace Freddie Jacobson Andres Romero Ted Purdy Neal Lancaster Charlie Beljan Eric Axley Parker McLachlin Spike McRoy Derek Lamely Veteran member (150 or more career cuts made) Brendon de Jonge Charlie Wi Shaun Micheel The PGA TOUR uses a standardized system for determining event fields, based off the current season’s Priority Ranking while also including additional exemption and qualifying categories. Field sizes can vary by event, as can the number of event-specific exemptions. Fully exempt PGA TOUR members are guaranteed entry into all full-field events, with various conditional categories subject to periodic reshuffles based upon FedExCup Points accrued throughout the season. Categories with ‘reshuffle’ notation indicate that a reshuffle period has occurred. * = If all prior year Korn Ferry Tour graduates are eligible for event, exemptions become unrestricted # = Latest medical extension information can be found here. $ = Category breakdown can be found here.

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