Jim Knous: One Shot that Changed Everything

Jim Knous has built a career defined by perseverance, patience and Colorado grit. The Basalt native turned down an engineering path after Colorado School of Mines to chase the game, grinding through mini-tours, injuries and near misses before earning PGA Tour starts. In 2025, his journey came full circle with a dramatic, walk-off eagle to win the Colorado Open, the biggest victory of his career and a moment of redemption after years of chasing the dream. Knous’ story isn’t just about scores, it’s about resilience, loyalty to his roots and a relentless belief that the next shot can change everything.

(MC) You won the 2025 Colorado Open in dramatic fashion holing out from 69 yards on the 18th hole in the fourth playoff. Can you recall what was going on in your head?

(JK) Yeah, I had had a similar shot (from the previous playoff hole), like right in that area, I think from the rough, just below. This time around, I was in the fairway. This was a fourth playoff hole, and the shot before, I kind of came up and out of it.

It was kind of a weak little, I don’t know, shot that kind of came up short of the hole, and if you know Green Valley Ranch, the pin was in the back left, and the shot before, I didn’t quite get to that ridge, and it came down all the way to that front bowl.

So my caddie said, all right, keep your speed up on this one and get kind of through the ball. So I kind of took that advice and went ahead and hit it maybe just a little harder.

It was into the wind too, and I think still it just barely kind of covered the bunker. The greens were firm, and one kind of big-ish bounce, slam dunk. I didn’t really see it, because again, if you know Green Valley Ranch, there’s that bunker right there, and I was kind of hitting up over it, so I couldn’t see the hole itself, but there was enough people around the back of the green that they all went, ah! You knew it went in.

(MC) And you knew it went in right away, so that was, obviously it was thrilling. Have you ever won a tournament in that fashion?

(JK) No, never. That was definitely the most dramatic win I’ve ever had. I think other tournaments that I’ve won, at least, were just kind of ho-hum, you know, two-putt on the last, and win by one or two or whatever, but nothing like that.

That is so much fun. You know, talking about fourth playoff hole, a lot of pressure on that.

(MC) How have you learned to handle the pressure in situations like that?

(JK) I think it’s just been a series of all my experiences throughout my career. I think it all comes back to, like, your routine, my pre-shot routine, so much so that I would actually practice my pre-shot routine, and I have it really dialed down to how many seconds the pre-shot routine takes. So it’s, you know, a practice swing, stepping into the ball, it’s your breathing, it’s all those things.

One last look at the target, you have maybe one mental thought, like, I’m going to take the swing like this, or I want to feel like this on the downswing. Something simple like that. And then after that, it’s just kind of, your body just knows what to do, you kind of have to rely on that, your instincts, if you will.

But then dealing with the pressure, obviously, situations like that are higher pressure than others. So, I mean, that just kind of comes down to experience. Having been there a few times, I kind of know what to expect, and I know those feelings of nerves, those jitters that you have, and kind of what that does to your swing, because it will affect your swing.

(MC) Where does this Colorado Open Championship rank in your career? I’m trying to think if anything’s above it.

(JK) It’s very possible it’s the number one, it’s the number one thing. Obviously getting my PGA Tour card and being on the PGA Tour for a few years was the pinnacle of my career. I never won out there, I got close a couple times out of 54, whole lead in California, but never won.

So, I have a couple wins at the San Juan Open in New Mexico, but this being the home tournament, my home tournament, I’ve played it so many times as an amateur and a professional. For a long time, for whatever reason, I just never seemed to play well at the Colorado Open, and it always kind of bugged me, you know. But then for whatever reason, the last couple years, I’ve played really well, just mainly putted really well.

The greens at Green Valley Ranch, the Colorado Open, they always get them in unbelievable condition. In the last two years, I’ve just been seeing the lines. So second place in 2024, obviously the win this year, yeah, it’s hard to top that. I think it’s probably the number one. Yeah, I mean, you know, winning your home Open is pretty awesome. Very special.

Plus, I had a bunch of family and friends there, I mean, that’s just super fun.

(MC) Talk about pressure. People think Pro Golf is glitz and glam, you’re out on tour playing golf for a living, right? People do not see the grind that it actually is of all of the travel away from family, nights in hotel rooms. Talk me through kind of how that, how the travel piece and just how hard getting into Pro Golf in the early stages and up to the PGA Tour actually is.

(JK) Yeah, it’s pretty brutal. I will just say, yeah, you really have to love golf to want to do it. And it is an incredible journey. It’s really fun when you go into it with that mentality of, hey, I love golf, I want to do this as my career, and I do want to make it fun throughout my career. So yeah, I mean, we talk about the grind on the mini tours, you’re driving to every tournament or a lot of the tournaments, you know, not a lot of flying yet. Flying starts kind of, Corn Fairy Tour, PGA Tour, you kind of have to fly most places. The travel is, you know, you’re going in Monday, Monday’s your travel day, tournament, prep is Tuesday, Wednesday, tournament’s Thursday through Sunday, and then you’re traveling in on Monday. A lot of times you’re gone, you know, weeks at a time. My rookie year, I was gone 13 weeks in a row.

Pretty brutal. Something I learned there was like, hey, you have to build in breaks. Even if you’re kind of right up against a line or something, my rookie year, I was kind of fighting for my card, so I felt like I had to keep playing. Looking back on it, I should have taken a week here or there to mentally reset, physically reset, stuff like that. But it is funny looking back on one of the years we did our accounting, and I was gone 197 nights of the year. So that’s, I mean, that’s brutal.

(MC) Talk to the, you know, high schooler that isn’t necessarily getting the looks or the college golfer at a D2 school or NAI school or D3 or whatever that, you know, maybe didn’t get looked at and signed by Texas or Auburn or, you know, Colorado or one of these bigger schools or the guy that’s on the mini tour that is like, you know what, I’m kind of done with this 2026, maybe be my last year. What advice do you have for those, for those players?

(JK) I think my main, my main advice, the best advice I can give, I say it a lot is keep your love for the game. I didn’t get the looks, but I loved golf. I just kept at it. I landed at Colorado School of Mines, which was actually perfect for me.

Watch the full interview on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/@coloradoavidgolfer