COGNIZANT CLASSIC

March 1, 2025

Jake Knapp

PGA National Champion Course

Quick Quotes

Q. Jake, back in the lead again. How did you play today?

JAKE KNAPP: A little bit all over the place. I feel like I played pretty solid. I kind of misjudged a few things and definitely made a few bad swings. But overall I think I was able to give myself a fair number of chances, and it's just a little bit tougher out there right now, and did a good job of staying patient and taking what the course gave me and tried to make a few putts fall.

Q. You shoot 59 on the first day; easy to let your mind wander, get away from the end goal. How do you feel like you've done over the last two days following that?

JAKE KNAPP: Yeah, pretty good. Yesterday it just felt kind of weird after playing so well Thursday and the ball is going exactly where you want it to, to hit shots and not have it be perfect every single time. Just had to kind of manage my expectations and not get too frustrated about anything and just understand that it's a long week. There's plenty of great players out here who can go stupid low, so just have to try to stick to my game plan.

Q. Is there any disappointment playing in Mexico last week, defending and maybe not playing as well as you would have hoped?

JAKE KNAPP: Yeah, a lot, just because that course I know suits my game really well, and I felt like my game has been trending in the right direction. The first day didn't play great, and then to not play well Friday was really frustrating. Especially the way I did it, just some errant shots that I don't usually hit.

But it was nice to be able to come back on the weekend and finish with a top 25 and felt like I got something out of it. Even going into Saturday we just tried to build some confidence going into this week, and I think it helped.

Q. Early season still, but if you were to look at the statistics right now, your approach play this season has been the biggest improvement over last year. Anything in particular you've been working on with approach play?

JAKE KNAPP: Not really. I think just overall just trying to get better week by week and more comfortable and all that sort of stuff. I think just looking at stats from last year and better understanding the areas that I really needed to improve on and just leaning on those. Maybe just spending a little bit more time in practice and then just kind of trusting myself and trying to build confidence week in and week out.

Q. You won last year, came here, played really well again. A lot of buzz around Jake Knapp and then maybe the rest of the season doesn't go exactly the way you planned. What did you learn about yourself after having that success and maybe it not sustaining?

JAKE KNAPP: Yeah, the first season on the PGA TOUR if you would have told me that going in I would have had the year that I had based on whether I played well at the beginning or the end or kind of mixed in between, I would have taken it for sure.

I think just trying not to be too hard on myself and just manage my expectations. I was playing a new golf course every single week. It's not like I played those with sponsor exemptions in the past or something.

I tried to manage my expectations, but at the same time I wanted to keep that trend going. I'm trying to do a much better job this year of kind of plugging along and doing my job day in, day out.

Q. How are you at adapting your game as the course is getting tougher through the weekend? Different today than it was Thursday.

JAKE KNAPP: For sure, yeah. It's just a lot less pin hunting. It's a little bit more conservative targets and you have to be a little bit more dialed in with distance control and shot shape and things like that because if you don't you'll end up in a bunker or water or somewhere you don't want to be. Just try to be a little bit more conservative somewhat, but you then when the course gives it to you, try to take advantage.