At 18, Hawkeyes soph Knoll plays PGA Tour event

SILVIS, Ill. — College sophomores have roles at PGA Tour events. Usually, they involve working at concession stands or picking up trash.

University of Iowa sophomore golfer Raymond Knoll of Naperville, Ill., is doing something different at the John Deere Classic. He's playing in it.

The 18-year-old Knoll shot a 3-over-par 74 Thursday in a tourney he didn't even know he'd be playing until Monday. That was when Knoll eagled the 18th hole of the JDC's qualifier at Pinnacle Country Club in nearby Milan, Ill.

The top four players of the 73 entered in the qualifier advanced to the JDC. Knoll finished with a birdie at 17 and an 45-foot eagle putt on 18 for a 7-under 65, tying him for low score. The field in the qualifier consisted mostly of pros, including several former Tour members.

'It was unbelievable,' said Knoll's mother, Beth Knoll. 'Really fun.'

The same was said Thursday, even though the results weren't as good.

'Absolutely crazy,' said Ryan Hantak, the boys' golf coach at Naperville North High School. 'We'd always kind of joked back home about him being on the Tour one day. We never thought it would be this quick when he played a Tour event.

'But I think everyone who knows Ray thinks he can do it.'

Knoll birdied his first hole, the par-5 No. 10. 'That was unbelievable,' he said. 'It told me 'OK, I can do this.' '

But he had a triple-bogey on his third hole of the day when he hit an errant tee shot on the par-3 12th. He didn't get rattled after that, though. He played his last 12 holes in 1-under, and had excellent par-saves on his final two holes.

'I was pretty nervous on the first tee,' Knoll said. 'They say amateurs have no pressure, that they're playing for nothing. But in my mind I had the pressure of wanting to play well.'

Knoll quickly worked his way into the Hawkeyes' lineup in his freshman year. He tied for 12th at the Big Ten Championships. Last summer, he qualified for the U.S. Amateur.

'He shot a 66 at Purdue (in the Boilermaker Invitational) and no one even talks about it because (teammate) Steven Ihm shot a 64 to win the tournament,' said Iowa men's golf coach Mark Hankins.

'For a freshman, that was really good golf on a really hard golf course.'

With a 2:15 p.m. tee time, it made for a long day.

'Oh my gosh,' Knoll said. 'Being in my first tournament and not playing until 2:15 was like the worst thing in the world. I woke up at 5:30 this morning, woke up again at 6. I was trying to waste time, so I went down (to his hotel lobby) to have some oatmeal. That only took about 15 minutes.

'I got to the course at 9:30.'

Knoll's former Iowa teammate, recently graduated Steven Ihm of Peosta, shot a 73 in his pro debut. He also played better as the day got longer, going 2-under over his last five holes.

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