By the time I realized I hadn’t played a 72 hole event in nearly 10 months it was too late: my swing was gone, my putter might as well have been a weed whacker, I could barely do basic altitude adjustment math, and I was playing slowly. I was out of gas early in the back nine of the final round. The clubhouse felt so far away.
I hoped for a final surge of energy and a late round-saving epiphany. I hoped to find a go-to shot or swing-thought to salvage the tournament. But nothing came. I was utterly lost. I closed with two bogeys in the final six holes, and the four pars I made were shaky at best. There’s no sense in dwelling on today’s struggles. The tournament ended as it started: with a disappointing round of 1 over par. I finished the event at 10 under and T-20. For the effort I made $1375…with about $2700 in expenses.
Ping engineer and former PGA Tour player, Jim Knous, however, had a very good day. The 2024 Colorado Open runner-up got revenge on Sunday after losing in a playoff last year to Davis Bryant. Knous caught fire making 10 birdies in the final round, including one at the last, to shoot a 9 under 62 and post 22 under for the tournament. He took a brief one-shot clubhouse lead over third round leader, Sam Saunders, who hit a brilliant second shot on the par-5 closing hole and narrowly missed his eagle putt for the win. Saunders, the University of New Mexico’s assistant golf coach, took a two-shot lead into the final round and shot 6 under to get to 22 under; a score that most days, would have won running away. But today, Saunders and Knous were headed to a playoff. The winner would take home $50,000 and the runner-up would receive $20,000. High stakes for anyone - especially a couple guys with real jobs.
