At 32, he’s not your typical “new” PGA Tour star, but he definitely played like one this season.
Dylan Dethier: You played some really good golf in 2026 — 11th or better in seven of your first eight starts this season, including the Masters. What does it feel like to be on a run like that?
Jake Knapp: I mean, obviously it feels good. It doesn’t feel, like, crazy different; it’s not like I’m hitting it exactly where I want to on every shot or making every putt or chipping in all the time. I just think I did a job good this offseason analyzing what areas I could really benefit from the most — maximizing my practice time, locking in on ball striking — and seeing improvement has been great. Obviously, when you’re playing well, you want to try to take advantage and win, but when you put yourself in contention as often as you can that’s uplifting too. Because golf is golf; you’re going to have some weird stuff happen. But when it does you know that it’s, like, Hey, I’m playing fine. That’s the sign, really, that your work is kind of coming to fruition and then you see it show up with results.
DD: When you say ball striking, did you dial in on a specific distance with your irons or wedges?
JK:Yeah, like, 150 to 175 yards and even 175 to 200. It’s funny because it’s an area that I’ve always felt comfortable. It’s not like I was thinking, Oh man, I’m terrible from this distance. It was like, Okay, there’s room we can improve. Maybe it’s a little bit of club selection or choosing the wrong shot, or maybe it’s a mishit, but we can clean it all up. And I was in-between on some swing stuff, so I decided to go and see a new swing coach, Boyd Summerhays, and he’s worked with really good ball strikers in the past. He used to be a player, so he has great perspective, and he’s not a big believer in needing to make these big radical changes just hoping it’ll all get better in six months. I’ve never been crazy technical, even though from playing for so long I know what my swing looks like when I’m playing well. But I sent him some older videos from when I was hitting it well and new ones to show where I’m at now. I don’t always know what causes X, Y and Z, so he did a really good job of helping me understand my swing even better, which was great.
DD: You’ve had a few massive leaps in your pro career. I’m most intrigued by the first one. In your first few years on PGA Tour Canada, you had more missed cuts than makes and struggled to keep your card — and then suddenly you started winning. What happened between 2018 and 2019?
JK: When I first turned pro, I just didn’t change much in my life. Like, I moved back home [to Southern California] with my parents and basically all I was doing was going to the course all day, hitting balls, playing twilight, going to the gym at night. But I was doing other stuff too, like hanging out with my buddies and going out on the weekends and doing things like I was a normal early 20-something. I was a little immature in the fact that I just, like, didn’t know how much better I really needed to get. And I think after those first three years as a pro, playing in Canada, I was just like, Man, I feel like I’m so much better than this and yet I’m losing status on the Canadian Tour and I’m not winning any minitour events. I got an ankle injury playing pickup basketball at the end of 2018, and that took me out for, like, three months. I wasn’t able to go to Q-School that year, and so my only option was to go back and play in Canada. But that was a big shift in my mindset. Okay, I’m doing this 110 percent. No pickup hoops, no men’s league softball. My contracts out of college were done. Technically, I could stop whenever; I didn’t owe anybody anything. That’s when a lot of guys stop playing. I was like, Well, I feel like I haven’t even tried yet. I owe it to myself to kick it up a few notches.
DD: Your golf pro from when you were a kid, Tom Sargent, said that even when you were five or six you had a lot of swagger. Do you feel like that’s something you had then and something you try to maintain now as a pro?
JK: Yeah, I think so. I mean, I wouldn’t describe myself as cocky or arrogant or whatever, but I think “swagger” is a good way to put it. I didn’t always have that sense of belonging, and it always took me a while any time I moved up a level. But playing your way into where you remember that you’re supposed to be — I think that’s important.
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DD: There’s some swagger that must come automatically from being one of the longest drivers on the PGA Tour, which you joined in 2024. But you’ve also been putting it fantastically. Have you made any big changes there?
JK: Not really. It’s funny, I’ve always felt like I was a streaky putter. Some weeks I putt well, some weeks really bad. But I just put more attention toward it, more time into it. You can never spend enough time putting, in my opinion. And then I spent more time green reading, which has helped a lot, because you can hit it through any gate you want — if you’re aiming it on the wrong line you’ll miss putts.
DD: Left turn here: Do you know about the other Jake Knapp?
JK: I’ve heard of him, because when I first was on Tour I’d get tagged in posts about, like, a book he wrote.
DD: Seems like an interesting guy. Helped invent Gmail. He’s called the “Time Dork.” He’s also, like, 6 foot 7. He’s an expert in time management; that was the only real connection I could make, but time management seems like a big part of your job. Are you good at it? And do you have any tips?
JK: I definitely think time management is huge, and I have gotten better at it. Your time is the most important thing. This job isn’t like other jobs or even other sports where you have days off or seasons off. At least the way I see it, there aren’t really days off. Especially not getting on Tour until I was 29, it’s probably not realistic that I’ll have one of those
25-year PGA Tour careers, so I’m trying to make the most of right now. My rookie year I spent too much time at the golf course, too much time practicing during tournament weeks, where now I feel like I’m pretty good at listening to my body, understanding what days I can push it and what days I need to dial back and stay fresh. My rookie year I was gassed by the end of the season, playing too much and in all these new environments. I’m smarter about that stuff now.
DD: Do you feel like you’ve learned from your peers, or do you stay focused on yourself?
JK: I’ve always been pretty focused on what I’m doing. With that said, I do try to be a sponge. I like to keep an eye on the guys who are elite in a specific category — bunker play, iron play — and try to pick something up. But my rookie year I was like, Okay, he’s a really good putter and he does the exact same drills every day. Maybe there’s something to that. Or the best ball strikers, Collin Morikawa or Tommy Fleetwood or Scottie [Scheffler] — it’s like, Man, these guys kind of do the same simple things day in, day out. You can’t copycat somebody exactly, but that mindset, that approach, I’ve tried to work into my own game.
DD: You’ve had this progression throughout your career — you just keep getting better. But you haven’t played a ton of major championship golf. Is that the next step, playing well in the majors?
JK: Yeah, I think competing in majors is the end-all be-all. And, for me, consistency is something I’ve chased ever since I was younger. But I’m getting there now — I’ve kept progressing. I think my game is suited for those courses, though. I haven’t played the British Open yet, but the tougher the courses get and the firmer and faster they get, I think I have an advantage there. So making sure I’m a little more prepped and ready for those weeks, understanding that, like, the U.S. Open will be incredibly difficult — I know what I need to do now. And I’m ready for more.
