Former nightclub bouncer makes big money playing on PGA Tour

From having to work part-time at a nightclub to make ends meet, Jake Knapp has just earned nearly $0.5 million in prize money after just three tournaments as a rookie with a full card on the 2024 PGA Tour.

From January 14 to January 27, Knapp played three tournaments in the US golf tournament. His current total prize money includes $477,000 for finishing T3 at the Farmers Insurance Open and $17,000 for finishing T70 at the Sony Open. As for The American Express, the 29-year-old American golfer did not receive any money due to being cut.

Still, Knapp is “richer” now than he was in 2021. By the fall of that year, he had been playing professional golf for five years but had only reached the second division of the Korn Ferry Tour and had just been relegated. “I couldn’t stay afloat and I was short on money, so I put my clubs away and got a part-time job,” Knapp told pgatour.com on February 7.

Jake Knapp has played just three events on the PGA Tour since earning a full card on America's premier golf circuit. Photo: PGA Tour

He went to The Country Club, a restaurant turned nightclub in his hometown of Costa Mesa, Orange County, California.

Knapp initially applied for a job as a bartender but ended up joining the security team. "The manager said he needed security. I said I didn't know if I was built enough, but I could stand at the door with a fierce look on my face," he said. Knapp is about 5 feet 7 inches tall and graduated from California State University.

Knapp’s schedule is Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights, with overtime when special events come up. Working the night shift also allows him plenty of time to practice golf. He typically leaves the club around 2 or 3 a.m., goes home, sleeps for about seven hours, and then goes to the range from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

"The income from the nightclub was not enough to live on, but it helped me cover the costs of playing in small-scale professional tournaments and participating in the third-tier PGA Tour organized specifically for Canada," Knapp confided. After nearly nine months as a security guard at the entertainment venue, Knapp quit to return to the tour to earn money.

He regained his second-tier card on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2022. He was promoted to the PGA Tour near the end of last year. This week, he will play his fourth tournament and closest to home, the $8.8 million Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale in Arizona from February 8-11.

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