PGA Tour rookie Jake Knapp wins Mexico Open

PGA Tour rookie Jake Knapp is now a PGA Tour winner and takes home the Mexico Open on Sunday after shooting 19-under for the week and beating fellow rookie Sami Valimaki by two strokes.

Knapp started the round with a commanding four-shot lead, but let it slip when his driver – the basis of his first three rounds – betrayed him. Knapp hit two fairways in 18 holes on Sunday, becoming the first PGA Tour player since 1983 to hit two or fewer fairways in his final round and win. Knapp reached 33 of 39 fairways Thursday through Saturday.

Still, he secured the victory after putting his drive on 18 into a left fairway bunker. Valimaki, needing an eagle to force the play-off, went bust and missed – his monster drive hitting the cart path right and nestling under a fence. Valimaki immediately started asking how much of a lead he had over the third-place trio. A few moments later, Knapp had a tap-in and raised his arms in triumph.

“Just grinding it out,” Knapp told NBC of his final round.

Knapp, 29, is just that: a professional golf grinder. That skill was always there — in high school he shot a 58 on his home course, then a 61 in U.S. Open qualifying, eventually enrolling at UCLA — but he struggled to gain traction when he graduated in 2016 became a professional.

Three years ago he had no status on any tour and was working as a security guard in a nightclub. But he used conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour to finish 13th in the season standings in 2023 and claimed his PGA Tour card for the season.

He finished third at the Farmers Insurance Open last month and was T28 at the WM Phoenix Open. He then followed up his opening round 67 at Vidanta with a 64 on Friday and a 63 on Saturday, taking a four-shot lead over Valimaki going into the final round. Only three players were within seven shots of the lead.

However, Knapp, ranked No. 125 in the world by DataGolf.com, limped out of the gate with bogeys at Nos. 1 and 3 and quickly moved into a tie with Valimaki, who had a birdie and an eagle on the front nine.

Knapp eventually steadied himself and got a stroke on his playing partner when he parred No. 13 and Valimaki made bogey, then gave himself another stroke when he birdied the Par-5 14th and Valimaki settled for par.

Knapp takes home $1.458 million for the win. He will compete in the Masters and PGA Championships next month, as well as the Players Championship. He is also now fully exempt for the 2026 PGA Tour season and will compete in all major events for the rest of this year.

(Photo by Jake Knapp: Hector Vivas/Getty Images)