PGA Tour fans blasted Jake Knapp after the golfer decided to ‘go for it when he didn’t need to’ during the final round of the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches.
Knapp – who carded a 12-under 59 on Thursday – was tied for the lead 18-under when he reached the par-4 11th at PGA National’s Champion Course.
He found the fairway with his tee shot but his approach from 146 yards was substantially short and his golf ball ended up partially submerged in the water guarding the green.
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Knapp then decided to take his right shoe and sock off before attempting to hack his ball onto the putting surface to try and save what would have been an audacious par.
But things did not go to plan and Knapp watched in horror as his ball trickled back into the water after he took an almighty swipe at the ball.
Knapp gathered his composure before playing his fourth shot but, once again, failed to get his ball onto the putting surface.
This time, though, his Titleist Pro V1 Left Dot found dry land but was still on the bank.
From there, Knapp finally found the dance floor but eventually trudged off the green with a triple bogey on his card.
It meant he fell five places on the leaderboard.
Needless to say, Knapp’s decision came under scrutiny from many PGA Tour fans watching on Golf Channel.
Many argued that Knapp should have just taken his medicine and dropped.
“A hole mired in terrible decisions,” one X user wrote.
Another added: “What a dumb decision. Cost him the win. And he should also be penalised for slow play.”
This person wrote: “There’s aggressive and there’s reckless. This was a case of the latter.”
Added @edorran: “What a ridiculous decision. His caddie should be fired.”
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Knapp followed the disasterclass with three straight pars.
He was searching for his first win since claiming the 2024 Mexico Open.
In the end, he had to settle for a tie for sixth place.
Joe Highsmith won and became the first player in nine years to win a PGA Tour event after making the cut on the number.
For his part, Knapp said he had no regrets about his decision.
“Even now I don’t take it back,” he told reporters.
“It’s just one of those shots you just have to end up hitting a little bit harder than I did.”
Knapp said his second shot on the 11th hole was his ‘only’ bad swing of the day.