Short Par 4 The Magazine Issue #2 October 2020 | Page 55

JIM KNOUS ? WHO THE F * CK IS JIM KNOUS .

That ' s usually the first thing out of people ' s mouths ' when I tell them about one of my favorite golfers on Tour . Jim Knous isn ' t racking up tour victories just yet , even though I have full faith that my boy from Basalt Colorado will be raising some trophies soon . Currently , 825 in the OWGR Jimmy Hark K as he refers to himself , the feel-good story , the underdog never giving up , rising to the sports ' pinnacle despite all the bumps and bruises along the way .

Jim didn ' t go to a D1 school , he didn ' t get scouted as one of the top juniors in the country , nor did he have the resources to have an expert team surrounding him . What Jim did have was balls , big balls . Balls so big that no matter what came his way , he knew from the moment he first picked up a club that he wanted to be PGA Tour Pro , and nothing would stop him .

Coming up through the Colorado Boys High School system , Jim was under the radar , but a chance encounter with Coach Tyler Kimble from Colorado Mines changed everything . Jim ' s swing is pure poetry . He is a lanky 6 ' 2 with crazy power , but with Freddy type tempo . It ' s a beautiful sight and something that caught the attention of Coach Kimble . Jim was invited to join the Colorado Orediggers ,( Might be one of the worst Athletic team names ever ; their Donkey logo isn ' t much better ), a team that had a high focus not only on golf but academics as DII schools don ' t have the Scholarship capacity as many DI teams do .

When Jim finished college , he had one goal and one goal only . " Somebody told me that if you have [ a Plan B ], Plan A