Relaxed Knost Cruises To Win

By Dave Shedloski

San Francisco – Colt Knost is still in a comfort zone from his U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship victory.

The 22-year-old from Pilot Point, Texas, kept himself pointed in the right direction Thursday at Olympic Club with a clean 3-and-2 win over Brendan Gielow of Muskegon, Mich., in the second round of the 107^th U.S. Amateur Championship. Knost, named to the USA Walker Cup team, never trailed in running his match play winning streak to eight straight.

Colt Knost, driving off No. 7 Thursday, said he's feeling good about his game this week. (John Mummert/USGA)

"I am pretty relaxed right now," said Knost, a third-team All-American at Southern Methodist University, where he graduated this spring. "I’m not playing for a Walker Cup spot and we’re playing the same format as the Public Links, so I’m comfortable. I’m also playing pretty well."

Gielow, 19, who won his qualifier in Pataskala, Ohio, can’t say he didn’t have his chances after falling 3 down through eight holes. He didn’t miss a fairway on the inward nine and hit 8-of-9 greens, but his putter didn’t allow him to gain any traction against an opponent who didn’t miss a green after the sixth hole, where he made his only bogey.

Epitomizing Gielow’s day was the 6-foot birdie putt that lipped out at the par-5 16^th hole that would have extended the match. Knost already had his driver out of his bag, expecting Gielow to convert, but instead, the sophomore from Wake Forest University missed his sixth putt inside 16 feet.

Knost applied early pressure with a birdie at the first. "That was big," Knost said. "I like to get out front, make them come to me."

Another birdie at No. 5 was followed by a poor bogey at No. 6 when Knost missed the green with a wedge and failed to get up and down. But he sank a 15-footer at the seventh and a 9-iron to within 8 feet that set up a second straight birdie for a 3-up margin. His lead grew to as many as 4 up after Gielow’s only missed green at the 12^th from 155 yards out. The ball found the right front bunker, but after blasting to 10 feet, he couldn’t convert while Knost casually two-putted.

Gielow’s only highlight was a birdie at the par-3 13^th from 8 feet, but misses from seven, 15 and 6 feet coming in sealed his fate.

"He played well," Knost said of Gielow. "He did have some chances. I was just happy I didn’t give him many holes after messing up at the sixth. I just wanted to be solid after that, and, fortunately, I did that."

Dave Shedloski is a freelance writer whose work has appeared previously on www.usamateur.org.