Patrick Knott grabs a towel as he heads to No. 4 (par 5, 557 yards) green.

Merion’s Knott snarls Patterson Cup Qualifier medal at Honeybrook

  HONEY BROOK, Pa. — Fortunately for Patrick Knott, it wasn’t all for naught.

  The Merion Golf Club member posted a 3-under-par 67 yesterday in a Joseph H. Patterson Cup Qualifier at a saturated Honeybrook Golf Club (par 70, 6,289 yards). Knott played in the morning under conditions as temperamental as a toddler on an airplane. Sunny, windy, rainy, sunny, rainy, windy and rainy.

  “It was wild. You’d take your jacket off, and then all of a sudden the rain would come back,” Knott, 32, of Ardmore, Pa., said. “Eventually I decided to take the jacket off and just keep on playing. The wind was gusting.”

  Gusty winds served as a precursor to a thunderstorm that postponed play at 1:27 p.m. Competitors returned to the course at 2:40 p.m., only to hear the horn again at 3:35 p.m. Officials deemed Honeybrook unplayable at that point. Players in the afternoon wave returned to the course this morning to finish.

  None matched or bested Knott’s 3 under. He led a field of 100 players (prior to weather withdrawals, that is) hoping to earn one of 29 qualifying positions and ties available for the Championship proper. The cut line stopped at 74.

  The 116th Joseph H. Patterson Cup will take place Aug. 8-9 at Gulph Mills Golf Club. Knott last competed in the event in 2013. A spiraling confidence triggered a five-year hiatus from the Golf Association of Philadelphia circuit.

  “It’s been awhile. I kind of lost my game over the last few years. I’m glad to see it coming back,” Knott, who works for a business evaluation firm, said. “Chipping and putting was definitely killing me. I switched to the claw [grip] in the middle of last year. It’s really saved me a few strokes per round. I was missing too many short putts. I saw it was working on the PGA TOUR, so I gave it a try.”

  Knott registered 15 greens in regulation, withstood fussy weather and rarely faced a red figure putt beyond 20 feet.

  “I’m absolutely happy with [my performance today]. I hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens. I kept the golf course in front of me, which is key,” Knott said. “I played Winged Foot (Golf Club) over the weekend in 25 mph crosswinds. I felt like I was playing pretty solid. I was happy that this kind of reinforced it.”

  Starting on the back nine, Knott carded his first birdie on the par 4, 316-yard 14th hole. After carrying the hazard with a mighty 3-wood, he hit an upwind gap wedge 95 yards to 20 feet. The next hole (par 5, 547 yards) marked Knott’s only misstep on the day.

  “[My drive] probably should have been out-of-bounds. It kicked down right next to the cart path, and I was able to save bogey,” Knott said. “It probably wasn’t a driver hole today. I thought I could cut the corner. I probably shouldn’t have tried that.”

  Knott recovered with a birdie on the par 3, 155-yard 17th hole, hitting a 6-iron to 12 feet right of the hole location — an ideal spot given the haunting crosswinds at the time. Knott buried a six-footer for 3 on No. 2 (par 4, 368 yards) following a half pitching wedge from 115 yards. The par 3, 204-yard further showcased his short game renaissance. He walked away with a birdie after missing the green right with a rescue.

  “I had a chip going down the hill that I knew I just needed to get on the green,” Knott said. “At the last minute, it broke a little right, caught the edge and dropped in.”

  Knott, who qualified for the 2012 U.S. Mid-Amateur, defeated Robert Good, II to win Merion’s men’s championship a few weeks ago. The victory broke another drought (2009) and reaffirmed an upward trend of confidence.

  “It definitely helped,” Knott said. “I’ve been playing well. I feel like I’m progressing, working my way back into competitive golf.”

  If his medalist achievement is any indication, Knott is back and primed for Gulph Mills.

  “I like the golf course. I played in the (A.J.) Drexel Paul last year,” he said. “There are a lot of birdies, but also a lot of slip-ups. Hopefully I’ll play well.”

  The remaining two Joseph H. Patterson Cup qualifying events are taking place today at Elkview Country Club and Yardley Country Club, respectively.

  The second oldest Championship in the Golf Association of Philadelphia, the Joseph H. Patterson Cup memorializes a man who fostered the game in its infancy. Joseph Henry Patterson, a Philadelphia Cricket Club member, competed in the first out-of-town match played by a team of Philadelphians. Friends of Patterson donated the Cup, designed by J.E. Caldwell & Co., to the Association in 1900.

Golf Association of Philadelphia
Founded in 1897, the Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) is the oldest regional or state golf association in the United States. It serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. The Association’s 260 Full Member Clubs and 75,000 individual members are spread across Eastern Pennsylvania and parts of New Jersey and Delaware. As Philadelphia’s Most Trusted Source of Golf Information, the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.