Jake Knapp, a golfer from the United States, is still in first place at the Cognizant Classic golf tournament, but his lead is now very small. On Thursday, he played an amazing round, scoring 59, which is super low in golf. But on Friday, he scored a 70, which is one under par. “Par” is the number of shots a golfer is expected to take on a hole or course. Scoring under par is good! Now, he’s only one stroke ahead of the next player.
Knapp started his Friday round on the back nine holes at PGA National, a famous golf course. He was even with par after those first nine holes. Then, on the front nine, he made two “birdies”—that’s when you finish a hole in one shot less than par—on the third and fourth holes. But he ran into trouble on the sixth hole, a par-4, where he made a “double bogey.” A double bogey means he took two extra shots over par. His ball went into the water, and his next shot landed in the rough, which is tall grass that’s hard to hit from. Even with that mistake, he finished the day one stroke ahead of Matthieu Pavon from France, who scored a 7-under-par 64.
Knapp talked about his day: “I’ve never had to follow up a 59 at a tournament before. It’s all new to me.” He meant that playing after such a great round was a new challenge. “Yesterday everything was just clicking ball-striking wise, distance control felt really good, was able to control flight and windows. All that was perfect,” he said. This means everything went right on Thursday—his shots were accurate, and he judged distances well. “Today I think the winds were kind of stop-and-go and (I) just kind of misjudged a few things, but overall felt like I was still making good passes at it. A couple wayward shots but nothing too concerning,” he added. In simpler terms, the wind was tricky on Friday, and he made some small mistakes, but he’s not too worried.
On Thursday, Knapp had 12 birdies and no bogeys, which made his 59 amazing. He wants to stay in the lead over the weekend. “I think it all stays the same. Obviously today wasn’t as great. I’ll go out and practice a little bit and make sure a few things are cleaned up,” he said. He plans to practice to fix his mistakes. “But for the most part you can’t really overdo it on this course. You can’t overpower it or anything like that. Just got to take what it gives you,” he explained. This means the course is tough, and he has to play smart, not just hit the ball hard.
Matthieu Pavon had a great day. He started with an “eagle” on the 10th hole, a par-5. An eagle is two shots under par, which is rare and awesome. He hit the ball onto the green in two shots and made a 15-foot putt (a putt is when you roll the ball into the hole). Then he made more birdies in a row and was 5-under after nine holes. He added three more birdies but had one bogey on the sixth hole, where he missed a short putt. A bogey is one shot over par. Pavon said, “Tenth hole was the dream start. A nice drive, like low cut, and I found myself with a nice number with a 4-iron, like 230 yards more or less, a little bit downwind off the right, and I hit that 4-iron perfect, a little hold against the wind, and I ended up 20, 25 foot.” This means he hit a perfect shot to start his day. “We had a great read with my caddie. We saw pretty easily the line, and I just made a super stroke to start with a three,” he added. His caddie (the person who helps carry his clubs and gives advice) helped him make the shot. Pavon feels his game is improving after a rough start to the season.
Three Americans—Michael Kim, Daniel Berger, and Doug Ghim—plus Jesper Svensson from Sweden are two strokes behind Knapp at 11-under. Ghim had the best round of the day, an 8-under-par 63 with no bogeys. He also made an eagle on the 10th hole, hitting a 237-yard shot that landed two feet from the hole. “It seems like it’s going to continue to be scorable, depending on the wind. But just got to keep the pedal to the ground because there’s a lot of people that have a chance,” Ghim said. He means the course can still give low scores if the wind isn’t too bad, but he has to keep playing hard because many players are close behind.
Knapp’s lead is small, so the weekend will be exciting!
