So I sit here at work lamenting my weekend of call. It's sunny, 65 degrees and the Masters is on. Worst weekend to be on call ever! One nice bonus: Augusta National has one of the best websites on the internet, and I can watch live streams of the Masters.
So as I was watching the first group arrive at Amen Corner, I saw Steve Stricker hit his shot on the green at 12. Then some guy named Jeff Knox hit it to 10 feet, well inside Stricker. The announcers said he was a "non-competing marker." I immediately thought, what the hell is that? So I consulted Mr. Google. What I found brightened my day immensely!
Jeff Knox is a 51 year-old resident of Augusta and a member at Augusta National. Since 2002, he has been designated the fill-in guy in case there are an uneven number of players after the cut on the weekend at the Masters. This is a pretty big honor, but this guy has earned it. He holds the all-time scoring record at Augusta at 61. He also regularly beats the pros he's paired with. Often, they look to him for advice on the course and greens. A quick search brought up several AWESOME stories about his past performances:
- In 2003, he was paired with the Walrus, Craig Stadler. He smashed him both rounds.
- Another year he was paired with Miguel Angel Jimenez. After outdriving him on #1, Jimenez told him not to outdrive him again. He ignored him and did anyway!
- He was paired with Bubba Watson in 2013, who was the defending champion. Bubba asked him for tips at Amen Corner.
- He was paired with Rory McElroy in 2014 on Saturday. He beat Rory by a stroke and won some cash in a bet!
- This year, he played a practice round with Tiger while Tiger decided if he was going to play the tournament.
But my favorite story without a doubt is 2006. He was paired with Sergio Garcia in the final round. They certainly made a bet, although we will never know how much. Knox scored 72. Garcia scored 73. Garcia refused to shake his hand after they were finished. It's unclear if he paid up!
So make sure you check to see how Jeff Knox did today. It won't be an official score, but you can find it.
1 comment:
I hear Bubba is a dick too. A poll of over 100 PGA pros overwhelmingly chose him as the guy you'd least likely help if he was in a fight in the parking lot.
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