Player

Colt Knost

Amateur career

Knost was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated from Southern Methodist University in 2007. While at SMU, he earned all-conference and all-region honors. He was also named the 2004 Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year. Knost won three United States Golf Association events in 2007, joining Bobby Jones (1930) and Jay Sigel (1983) as the only players to do so. In July he won the U.S. Amateur Public Links over Cody Paladino, 6 & 4. In August he won he U.S. Amateur, 2 & 1 over Michael Thompson. In September he represented the United States at the 2007 Walker Cup. The United States won 12½ to 11½ and Knost posted a record of 2-0-2 (W-L-H). He was the number one ranked golfer in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for five weeks in 2007 before turning professional. Knost was awarded the inaugural Mark H. McCormack Medal by The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews in 2007.

Professional career

Shortly after winning the 2007 U.S. Amateur, he turned professional, forfeiting his invitations to The Masters, the U.S. Open, and the Open Championship. Knost played in three events on the PGA Tour as a professional in 2007, making two of three cuts with his best finish coming at the Frys.com Open, where he finished T-38. Knost went to qualifying school to try to earn his PGA Tour card for 2008 but his finish of T-85 was not good enough to earn him his card.

Knost played on the Nationwide Tour in 2008 and won the Fort Smith Classic and the Price Cutter Charity Championship. He finished 6th on the money list with $329,509 and earned his 2009 PGA Tour card. Through July of his rookie season on the PGA Tour, Knost made 9 of 18 cuts, with his best finish coming at the Bob Hope Classic where he finished T-25.