Emotional Knost wins US Amateur
IN: News | US Mens Amateur | US Amateur Championship (2007) | Grand Final | by Anthony Powter | 27 Aug 2007
Colt Knost has won the 107th US Amateur Championship at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, holding off Michael Thompson 2 & 1 in a passionate display to win two of America’s biggest amateur golf events in a space of only six weeks.
It’s been a remarkable final summer as an amateur for Knost, 22 from Texas. He’s only the second golfer to win the Amateur and the US Public Links titles in the same year. Ryan Moore did it in 2004. Further, Knost becomes only the sixth player in USGA history to win two of its titles in one year.
The 36-hole final match had both Knost and Thompson taking the lead at various stages, as the two battled the Ocean course layout. After the first eighteen, Knost held a single hole advantage moving into the afternoon’s round.
Thompson was able to square the match on the 21st hole after a superb up and down and he then forged ahead on the 23rd hole to be one up. Knost then mounted a passionate mini comeback, never letting more than a hole separate him from Thompson, to finally take the lead on the 31st hole.
Knost was then able to secure the Championship with a par on the 491 yard par 4 17th, after his fairway wood approach had run through the green, but he was able to chip it back within three feet. After Thompson missed his putt, he motioned to Knost to pick up his marker, conceding the hole and the Championship.
“I’m a little surprised, but I also know that in these USGA events that pars are good,” remarked Knost at the press interview.
“In my game if I make a lot of pars, I make very few mistakes. I’m a guy that doesn’t shoot 62 a whole lot of times, but I very rarely shoot more than a couple over par. So therefore I know I can wear people down in match play.”
A passionate player on the course, Knost during the final expressed his dislike for any way ward drive or approach, cursing himself loudly in an overheated personal exchange in an attempt to break out of any possible rut. It obviously worked, as he was able to bounce back on each occasion it looked as if the Championship was slipping from his reach.
“I get fired up and I get upset at myself,” remarked Knost. “But I get over it pretty quickly and go on to the next shot. I just always tell myself, alright, that shot’s over, go to the next one.”
Knost’s strategy didn’t appear to wear Thompson down during the final, as he was able to keep his composure, despite the distracting circumstances.
“Every time he did that I said, come on, I told myself, okay, you can compose yourself better than that. Let’s get going,” commented Thompson.
“But the reason why he’s so good is that he can snap out of that real quick. He almost uses that anger and emotion to get him going.”
“But I’m pretty even keel and that’s the way I play my game and he plays his game that way, so that’s just the way we both attack the game of golf.”
Thompson leaves this week’s Championship feeling his game evolved for the better, despite not clinching the trophy.
“I just am learning how to play smart and I’m constantly learning how to do that,” were his comments at the press interview after the final.
“Thinking out on the golf course and playing in a championship setting in a front of a lot of people and in front of the media, doing these interviews and learning how to interview better. Everything that I’ve experienced here is a positive.”
Thompson does not know yet if he’s made the US Walker Cup team, which he dearly wants to make. Should he miss selection, he’ll be heading to Japan with the Alabama University team. Either way there’s something there for him, but you sense he deeply wants that Walker Cup uniform.
Knost still hasn’t decided whether he’ll wait to use those amateur berths at the Masters and the US Open, which his now received from today’s win instead of turning professional, which he originally planned to do after the Walker Cup in Northern Ireland.
“I got Walker Cup next week. That’s what I’m ready for. That would top off the best summer in my life if we go over there and win that one. And then I’ll go from there. I’m not sure yet though.”
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