Q. Jake, 59, special round. At what point did you realize you were close?
JAKE KNAPP: I don't really know. I knew obviously I had it going really early, but at the same time, that can happen and then it can kind of fizzle out pretty quick. I thought I did a good job of just trying to focus on shot by shot and not letting what happened or what could happen affect anything.
Then once I made the long putt on 15, it was like, okay, now this is kind of here.
But at the same time, didn't let it affect the game plan or anything like that. Tried to hit an aggressive shot into 16, 17 and 18, and just tried to -- knew I was hitting it well, so tried to just birdie everything today.
Q. Did you know what you needed on 18?
JAKE KNAPP: Yeah, for sure, yeah. I knew par was 71. I saw the leaderboard that I was at 10 when I walked up to 15 green, and then made that putt and knew where I stood. Would have been nice to make the one on 18, but happy with it overall.
Q. What's it like playing 18 knowing that you could be part of history?
JAKE KNAPP: You know, I don't really -- I didn't really think about it, to be honest with you. I think you start thinking about it too much, you're just going to add pressure to something that's very unnecessary. At the same time, if it was Sunday and the tournament was coming down to the line, it might be different, but at the same time it's Thursday morning and I'm doing my best to just put myself in position going into the weekend.
Tried to just focus on the shot at hand and trust what I was doing all day.
Q. Could you see anything like this coming? I know you've played a lot and you played last week in Mexico. I heard you say that you played well. Your best finish is Genesis. Did you feel anything coming in?
JAKE KNAPP: Yeah, I think I've been trending pretty well, honestly, over the last -- just since the start of the season. It's not like I've played really well and then really bad. I think it's just slowly gotten better since the start of the year.
Played okay at Genesis. Last week had a tough day on Friday and then came back on the weekend and struck the ball great. I think I was first in approach on Sunday. I was pretty aware coming into this week that my game is trending in the right way.
At the same time, it's just golf. It's one of those things where you can be hitting it really well and not scoring or you can be hitting it bad and scoring. Just doing my best right now to get the scores down a little bit, but overall feel like I've been playing a lot better.
Q. With that being said, when you feel that way and you start 5-under after five, does that just enhance the feeling?
JAKE KNAPP: Yeah, a little bit. I played well here last year, as well. I like this golf course. I'm comfortable on it. When the wind was down, I knew that it was going to be gettable. When this place gets windy, it can get really challenging, so it's one of those where you know you have to play pretty aggressive when it's not windy, so I just did my best to do that.
The first hole I hit right over the top of the flag and I hit a bad shot on 2, and then after that hit good shots everywhere other than 7. But 2 and 7 or 6 were really my only kind of poor swings of the day, but other than that everything was kind of going where I wanted it to.
Q. You shot 66 here twice last year. What is it about PGA National that just seems to work for you?
JAKE KNAPP: I just think it's a course that doesn't have -- there's no real goofiness to it or anything like that. It's just kind of right in front of you. It's very execution based. You just have to hit the shots that the hole calls for.
It's not a course where you can overpower it, either. I don't hit a lot of drivers out here. It's more of a positional golf course for me, and just try to make sure that from pitching wedge to 6-iron I'm hitting the ball well, and that should take care of the rest.
Q. How do you manage the emotions over the next 24 hours? You shot 59. You were thinking 58 and then just shot the round of your life but it could have been better. How do you marry all of these things into just showing up and playing good golf again tomorrow?
JAKE KNAPP: I mean, I think that's just the nature of what we do. Whether I shoot 89 or 59 I'm going to come back out and do my job tomorrow. I feel like over the last couple weeks I've started to get into a better head space of just keep trusting the stuff I've been working on and that it's going to keep getting better, and come out tomorrow and just try to keep doing it.
Q. I wanted to ask you specifically about the putt on 15. There was a lot of break to it. Is that kind of when you knew you were going at that point, but did you know you were really going? That was in the whole way it looked like.
JAKE KNAPP: I feel like I honestly had it going, like, well before then. I didn't really make many putts today, if I'm being honest. I just hit it really close. I made a lot of, kind of, 8- to 12-footers but nothing of great length, and to shoot a score like that, usually you do.
Yeah, on 15 I got a really good read off Tom. He was hitting from eight feet left of me, similar length. I got to watch his go in dead center, so it gave me somewhat of an idea of the pace and all that. Halfway, I knew it was on a pretty good line. It didn't have a ton of movement, but yeah, just kind of cozied right in there.
Q. What do you do tonight?
JAKE KNAPP: Just kind of the same old. Work out this afternoon, go get some rest. It was an early morning this morning so maybe take a little nap this afternoon.
Q. I'm not mistaken, new putter in the bag recently. What went into that change for you?
JAKE KNAPP: Just felt like I needed to feel something a little different, whether it's for -- in my head sometimes it's for a couple days or a couple weeks or whatever it might be. But it was more like strategic based on how I feel like my misses have been lately with the putter. I don't think I've been putting terribly, just something feel-wise that I just felt like I needed to feel something different.
Q. Did you test a bunch of different things, or was it kind of one thing and you found it quick?
JAKE KNAPP: Not a ton, to be honest. I've always stayed with the same head shape for the most part, and then I just change between that plumber's neck and then a double bend, so a little bit of toe hang versus face balanced. But yeah, just something that kind of felt right for me and worked on it the last couple days, and it worked pretty well today.
Q. Is this the first tournament you've used it?
JAKE KNAPP: Yeah, yeah, first tournament. Good first round.
Q. You mentioned to Damon that there was a little disappointed at the approach shot on 16. I want to know how you felt at 17 knowing if you make that putt, you come to the last hole and you've got a little bit of breathing room.
JAKE KNAPP: Yeah, to be honest, I wasn't thinking about it. I was just trying to make birdie because I hit a good shot. I thought about the number and you think about 59, but it's like I'll still think tonight about how it should have been 58 or 57 or 56.
59 is great, but you always could technically do better, but it could always be worse. It wasn't too worried about breathing room. If I got to 18 and I was already at 12-under par, I was going to play the hole the exact same way.
Yeah, I felt like I wanted to make it just because I wanted to make it, to be honest.
Q. Just run through the holes, just what you hit on each hole.
JAKE KNAPP: No. 1, hit 4-iron, then hit pitching wedge. Made the putt.
No. 2, hit 3-wood, blocked a 9-iron and then chipped in from the fairway in the front.
Next hole, No. 3, hit driver, hit 5-iron to kind of the front third of the green and then two-putted.
Next hole, hit 3-wood, then a pitching wedge and then made like a 10-footer.
The par-3, hit 6-iron pretty close, probably to three feet, three and a half feet.
Next hole, hit driver down the middle, hit a bad 7-iron out to the right and was able to get up-and-down.
No. 7, hit a 4-iron to pin high right, 17, 25, somewhere in there, feet-wise and then lipped out that putt.
No. 8, hit 3-wood, hit 9-iron. I don't remember if I birdied 8. I don't think I did. I can't remember, to be honest. I missed that.
Then No. 9, hit 3-wood -- I don't remember what club I hit. Pitching wedge? I think I hit pitching wedge to like three feet.
No. 10, hit driver, then hit 5-wood, two-putted.
No. 11, hit 3-wood, then gap wedge, made the putt.
No. 12, hit driver, then pitching wedge. Missed it.
Next hole, hit 3-wood, 56-degree, made it.
14, hit driver, 9-iron pretty close, made it.
Next hole, hit 8-iron to the left side of the green, made a long one.
16, hit 3-wood, pitching wedge, then just missed that one.
17, hit 8-iron, just missed, and then 18, driver, 6-iron and then two-putted.
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