One fine day for Knapp

BY TONY LEE

COSTA MESA — Ryan Knapp, an incoming Orange Coast College freshman and 2009 Estancia High graduate, looked to be out of the running with five holes to go and trailing the first-round leader Jason Bittick by six strokes on Sunday.

But after more friends and family arrived on the 14th hole for support, Knapp made a charge for the leaderboard with two birdies and an eagle in his final five holes and finished with a five-under-par 67, the best round at the 37th annual Costa Mesa City Championship.

“I decided if I’m going to give myself a chance, I got to start making some things happen,” said Knapp, who finished second at four-under-par 138. “And I started hitting the ball well and the putts were falling in.”

Since Knapp is a regular at the Costa Mesa Golf & Country Club, many regulars at the club joked that, “He only started to do well when all the beautiful girls came to watch him.”

But girls or the fact he wanted to make something happen might’ve not have been the real reason for his success.

Knapp just wanted to nap as quickly as possible and admitted he was thoroughly tired after back-to-back early morning tee times at 7:20 and 7:30 a.m.

After all, nap is in his name.

But he’s not the only Knapp that deserved accolades this weekend.

It was a complete family event as his parents Bob and Jennifer Knapp and his younger brother Jake were helping out with various tasks behind the scenes.

All the scorecards and the stickers with the players’ tee info was his dad’s job and his mom, Jennifer Knapp, helped out with various things at the tournament.

But the busiest Knapp was his younger brother, Jake, who had two demanding jobs..

The first was following Sunday’s final group as an official scorekeeper and updating the scores hole-by-hole on a whiteboard attached to his golf cart.

The second was to “work his voodoo” on the first-round leader and eventual-champion Bittick to give his brother the best chance at winning.

So after Ryan Knapp woke up from his nap, he was found back at the driving range working on a specific part of his game and preparing for a potential playoff in case Bittick faltered.

“My driver,” he said about the difference maker between the two days. “I was hitting fairways and giving myself opportunities off the tee [Sunday]. On Saturday, I didn’t give myself any chances. I was basically in the trees the whole day.”

Jake Knapp’s voodoo failed to work and after getting a message saying Bittick eagled 14th and is eight-under-par for the tournament, Ryan Knapp stopped hitting range balls and went out to the course to watch.

Even though Ryan Knapp was noticeably disappointed on Saturday after his one-over-par 71, Sean Collins, the tournament director and also Orange Coast’s head golf coach, said Ryan Knapp should keep his head up high because he played great and is fortunate to have a player of his caliber try out for Orange Coast.

He added all the Knapps have been fantastic and helped him run the tournament smoothly.

“This is extremely special because he’s come to my way at OCC, which is the other part of the whole program here,” Collins said. “I thought he’d do it the opposite way to tell you the truth, but he made it harder on himself [on Saturday]. With a score of 138, Ryan Knapp.”