How Did Jake Knapp Shoot 59? His Longtime PGA Coach John Ortega Explains

There probably weren't a lot of people who thought Jake Knapp was going to card a historic 59 during the opening round of the Cognizant Classic at The Palm Beaches on Feb. 27.

John Ortega had an inkling that Knapp was on the verge of putting together something special together, though. The PGA of America Golf Professional has known and coached Knapp since he was about 8, when he'd come to Ortega's course, Costa Mesa Country Club in Southern California, after school to practice and play. Nowadays he serves as Knapp's putting coach, spiritual guide and a person to turn to for advice.

So if anyone knows Knapp and his abilities outside his family, Ortega is pretty high up on that list and it's why he knew Knapp was getting closer and closer to some really low scores.

"That probably could've been a 58 or 57 today, too, " Ortega laughs. "At the end of last year, he got injured so his performance dipped a bit and, coming into this season, he's been trying to reestablish his tournament nerves a bit . . . gain his 'sea legs' if you will. He needed to get back in the mindset of playing tournament golf. It's a different beast. He'd shown some signs so far that his game was on the up but one tournament it'd be, good ball striking, bad putting; another one, it'd be the opposite.

"I think with this round at PGA National, you saw him finally put it all together and when these players do that, even the hardest course in the world looks easy."

Ortega is classy and humble when talking about Knapp, letting his long-time student do the talking with his game rather than Ortega explain how much he's helped him. But there were a few things he saw from Knapp's play yesterday that any golfer can learn from. Let's dive in:

There's no 59 yesterday from Knapp without some seriously good putting, and Ortega attributes that to Knapp's ability to really lock in the putting fundamentals: aim, stroke, speed and read.

"We used to putt against each other all the time, and he has a great appreciation for speed," says Ortega. "He creates his reads based on speed and getting the speed correct. He works on his stroke path and aim, too, always trying to clean things up so they're tidy for tournament play. But getting the speed dialed in . . . he's always been keen on that."

Golfers tend to just wing it a lot of times when they step up to a hole. Knapp's on the other side of the spectrum: Ortega says he goes into a round having a pretty good idea of how he's going to attack the golf course.

"He's very committed to being disciplined with a Plan A of how to play the hole," Ortega notes. "Of course, sometimes things go haywire, and you divert to Plan B, but no matter what, Jake always has a gameplan and knows what to do on each and every hole. That's how he's always gone about his business.

"And then, the things that didn't work that round? He goes to the range and figures out why. Jake's always been good about figuring out why he's hitting it bad."

It shouldn't come as a surprise, since Knapp has one of the smoothest moves on TOUR, but solid fundamentals likely played a massive role in his sizzling 59. Ortega says Knapp has "checkpoints" - alignment, posture, body lines, grip, balance - that he uses to make sure everything is looking and feeling good, almost a bit like a multi-point inspection for your car.

"He's always been very disciplined about his grip and body lines, never wanting to get too open or too closed," says Ortega. "Another big thing is always trying to make a swing without falling out of balance. That's big for him. He uses alignment sticks on the range to make sure everything checks out and that he's on plane, too.

"Lately, he's been going more with a fade since it's dependable but, ultimately, the checkpoints allow him to do what he does best: shape shots."

Ortega also mentioned how so many golfers and fans love Knapp's silky tempo and swing, but the man himself actually doesn't like it a whole lot.

"I told him, 'Hey, dude - you have a great golf swing. There are 1000s of golfers who can't produce the power and accuracy you do, and that's because of your swing.' The legendary swing coach John Jacobs said once that the sole purpose of the golf swing is to create a correct impact. How that is done is of no consequence as long as the method employed allows you to repeat it.

"Self-belief is so important, on any level. I've always tried to remind him of that."