Colt Knost will play his first PGA Tour event as a professional at next week’s Valero Texas Open. He will be playing on a sponsor’s exemption and will have to continue to do so until he either qualifies for the PGA Tour via Q School or earns enough money to make it into the top 125 on the PGA Tour money list.
Why do we care about this guy? He’s one of only six people to win two U.S.G.A. titles in one year. He won the U.S. Publinks and the U.S. Amateur this year. Although he has impressive credentials, his only performance on the PGA Tour in 2007 was at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship where he shot 74-64-74-74 for a six over total of 286. That’s not a very impressive record to go on.
Knost passed on exemptions to the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open. That’s a lot to sacrifice, but playing in those events would require him to remain an amateur for over half of next years PGA Tour season.
His debut comes around the time of year that Tiger Woods said, “Hello, World” in 1996, but the expectations and fanfare aren’t quite the same. It will be interesting to see how he fares in the coming months and if he can make the PGA Tour.