(Mckinney) Jake Knapp’s weekends are a lot different now that he’s a rookie on the PGA Tour and not a security guard at a restaurant in his hometown.
Published yesterday at 9:39 p.m.
Stephen Hawkins
Associated Press
Knapp, who won his first career tournament earlier this year, leads the Byron-Nelson Championship heading into the weekend with a second straight round of 64 on Friday.
He finds himself at minus-14, one shot ahead of Troy Merritt (62) and the leader after the first round Matt Wallace (66). Kelly Kraft follows two shots from the lead after a round of 66.
“Even when I was doing other things, I knew what I wanted to do was play golf,” Knapp said. I continued to work hard to get there. »
Merritt had his best round of his season thanks to an eagle on the ninth hole, his last of the day. He sent his approach 16 feet from the cup and blocked his putt. He had made four birdies in his previous six holes.
Wallace settled for a par on the same par-5 to conclude his round.
Home favorite Jordan Spieth, the top player in the world rankings to enter the tournament at 20th, settled for a score of 70. He finished the day at 4 under and missed qualifying for the weekend’s rounds. end with two strokes.
Defending champion Jason Day barely held the line at minus-6 thanks to a round of 70.
Canadian Taylor Pendrith carded a 67 and remains in the race tied for fifth place at under-11. His compatriot Mackenzie Hughes shot a round of 64 to climb into a tie for 36th place at 7 under.
Ben Silverman (69) and Roger Sloan (69) were unable to qualify for the weekend’s rounds by virtue of their respective cumulative scores of under-3 and par.