Valero Texas Open: Round One

The Valero Texas Open begins today. The Texas Open has been played in San Antonio, TX since 1922, which makes San Antonio the longest running host city of any PGA Tour event.

Colt Knost, who won this year’s U.S. Amateur, is making his PGA Tour debut thanks to a sponsor’s exemption. This guy turned down invites to three of next year’s major championships to try to play his way onto the PGA Tour this fall.

Other watchables include Texan (and Prince Andrew look-alike) Justin Leonard, John “Long Ball” Daly, the owner of the coolest name in golf, Spike McRoy, and one of my all-time favorite players, Corey Pavin.

To the reader: Are you going to watch this week’s Texas Open? Why?

Colt Knost Turns Pro

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.