Underdog Has His Day: Kenny Knox Wins by One Shot

Kenny Knox, the longest of the long shots, found himself a gallery favorite as he ground out a one-stroke victory Sunday in the Honda tournament.

“They like pulling for the underdog, I guess,” Knox said. “They were with me through every agonizing moment of stress and strain.”

And he definitely qualified as an underdog.

A career struggler, Knox made 10 tries at the PGA Tour’s qualifying school. He twice lost his playing rights because of bad play. At one stage, he couldn’t even gain an exemption on the Tournament Players’ Series, a secondary circuit. In three previous seasons on the tour, he hadn’t made expenses and, until this chilly day, had not finished higher than eighth.

And, after fighting his way into contention, he seemed to self-destruct with a horrendous 80 in the gale-force winds that raked the TPC course at Eagle Trace on Saturday.

The gallery took him as their own.

“It was a great feeling, hearing them yelling your name, yelling encouragement, applauding the good shots,” Knox said. “A great feeling.”

And he rewarded his new-found admirers with some remarkable efforts.

He twice holed from off the green, made another one from about 40 feet and reeled off a string of three consecutive birdies.

“I surprised myself all day long,” he said. “The hole just kept getting in the way.”

It got in the way often enough for him to score one of the most pronounced upsets on the PGA Tour in recent years. He won it with a final round of 70, two under par, and a 287 total, one under.

The victory was worth $90,000 from the total purse of $500,000 and almost doubled his previous lifetime earnings.