Here’s Every Shot of Jake Knapp’s No-Good, Very Bad Hole at Bay Hill

Jake Knapp has been one of the coolest stories of the early PGA season. This is his first year on the Tour and his path to get here was quite winding. Knapp qualified for the 2015 U.S. Open as an amateur, turned pro in 2016, and spent several years on the PGA Tour Canada. When he failed to earn his big boy Tour card three years ago, Knapp took a job as a bouncer to work on his game. He finally earned his way onto the Tour by way of the Korn Ferry Tour and earned his first win at the Mexican Open in late February.

It’s important to note Knapp’s win wasn’t some freak run over four days. He’s been quite competitive considering he’s one of the new guys on Tour in the early goings of the season, finishing third at the Farmers Insurance Open in January and securing a top-30 finish at the Waste Management Open. The guy has the goods and seems pretty cool to boot.

Now that we’ve established Knapp is young, cool, and fun, let’s all gaze in wonder at the most miserable hole of his young career. Knapp got absolutely destroyed by the famous par-5 No. 6 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill on Saturday, ending up with a 12 when it was all said and done. Some of you are probably here because you saw that 12 on your ESPN app and needed to see for yourself.

Well, here it is.

For those keeping track at home: that’s two drives in the water, another out-of-bounds, four shots to get on the green, and a two-putt. That is brutal, man.

And to remind you how slim the margins are in professional golf, Knapp’s first drive must’ve been maybe five yards short of the fairway. His second was even closer. That’s the difference between a tournament-destroying 12 and a very normal birdie, par, bogey, or double-bogey. Or even a triple-bogey.

As tough as this is for Knapp it is always reaffirming to understand that us amateurs at home have one thing in common with the games of these pro golfers– when it rains, it pours.