Jimmy “Hard K” Knous ended his 12 year professional golf career with a made cut at the Waste Management Open and a flurry of birdies on the back 9. With a start date for a new job on the horizon, Hard K birdied the final two holes of his professional golf career going out in unforgettable fashion. He reflects on a week that couldn’t have been scripted any better.
Be there for birthdays I want to be there for soccer games for holidays stuff like that just things that I’ve missed over the years as they get older I just want to be able to be there be around and um not my not leave my my
Kids and my wife hanging like that for for that many uh weeks a year we are back here here on uh any given Monday with obviously I’m biased but the story of of the week maybe the month maybe the year so far in 2024 Jim canals Jimmy what has the last week and
Especially the last 48 hours been like it’s been insane Ryan thanks for having me on it’s uh it’s been oh boy just a whirlwind we’ve had so much fun uh Monday qualifying for the for the WM Phoenix Open and and actually playing well you know making the cut
That was awesome had had a lot of friends and family and then more friends and family came when I made the cut which was just incredible and obviously the Saturday crowds you know we’ve all heard the stories about everything that happened on Saturday and and it was
Insane um just just so much fun to be part of the part of the show and and then and then Play Welcome down the stretch Jim you’re a golfer you’ve been a golfer your whole life you finish 32nd or whatever you ended up finishing is
There part of you wants to keep going or what has kind of been the feeling after having a week like that I know it’s easy on weeks like this to forget all the weeks that AR like this right do you have to kind of take some time and just
Think about all of that Jim one yeah sure I mean yeah I’ll I’ll definitely take some time it’s like you said it’s easy to forget you know the weeks where you’re traveling all of a sudden you’re on the we on the road three four weeks
In a row and you’ve missed all four cuts and you’re away you know you’re away from your family that whole time time that’s those are really hard times to battle through it’s these weeks like this when you’re playing well and everybody’s here with you and and you’re
All just hanging out having a good time it’s just it’s a lot of fun and that’s what Pro Golf is all about that’s what you play for um and then obviously you know you play for for uh uh being in contention and and trying to win golf
Tournaments but um yeah your question do I want to keep playing I mean yeah part of me says yes I want to keep playing um for week like this for this feeling that you get for you know the the um possibility of winning golf tournaments the I think the other side
Outweighs that feeling for me um that I want to be a family man I want to be home around my kids um you know as much as I can I want to be there for birthdays I want to be there for soccer games for holidays stuff like that just
Things that I’ve missed over the years my kids are only five and three and newborn so um as they get older I just want to be able to be there be around and um not my not leave my my kids and my wife hanging like that for for that
Many uh weeks a year so at this time you know that’s that’s the plan is to is to get a more um you know quote unquote normal uh lifestyle a normal job obviously I’ll be working for an incredible company super excited about that and
Um you know of course I I’m going to be scratching the itch with competitive golf I’m certainly not retiring like a lot of things were we’re uh mentioning this week I’m going to go play the in the PG of America stuff I’m going to transfer my membership that way and play
All the PG of America stuff try to qualify for these big events and and the PJ Championship stuff like that so I hope that’ll be a good uh like I said scratch the itch sort of scenario for me to keep playing competitive Golf and uh that’s that’s currently that’s currently
The direction we’re heading and and that’s it right Jim I think just people forget what Pro Golf is like for players with you know you were on a medical for a long time conditional membership uh there’s so I mean everyone says it is like there’s so many Downs in progolf very few ups
And those good weeks keep you going for a long time but eventually I assume they just add up to like hey this this is isn’t worth it anymore exactly Ryan I mean it’s been 12 years for me as a pro now so the UPS obviously getting my uh corn fairy tour
Card in in the first place uh playing well I mean I I have had a couple top fives along the way had a nice fourth place finish in Portland to Vault me into the finals and then played really well in the finals um to get my PG tour
Car that was obviously an up um and then a couple times In Contention on the PJ tour over three years um and that’s about it otherwise you know making Cuts always feels good um and and making good string of birdies always feels good but but you’re right
The Downs just somehow seem to outweigh the um the the the positive feelings in this in this job I I know you have to be mentally strong you got to keep battling um it’s just at this time in my in my life in my career you know I need
To go another way but that’s why professional golf is hard and that’s why um you know it isn’t for everybody were you a I mean it’s so rare in this game Jim to kind of walk away when you want with your choice you know uh I know there’s a lot of factors
Coming into you deciding to stop playing full-time but you are doing it on your on your own time were you able to soak up this week as as as much as you could yeah I think that added to the to the joy and to the happiness that that I
Had and and me and my caddy my my college coach had out there we you know and you could probably tell on the on the broadcast we were just having a blast we every birdie we were um high-fiving celebrating um getting the crowd going it was it was a great event
Because we could do that right you know you make a make a bomb make a chip in or whatever and you get the crowd going it’s it’s one of those places that was very rewarding in that regard um so it was yeah like you said it was a great
Way to to go out um it was an incredible is it was just an incredible week all in all um I like you said I kind of knew not that this is going to be last my last event ever like we talked about I still still want to play competitively
But that I knew I was going to play the farmers Monday qualifier and then I was going to play this Monday qualifier after me and my wife had chatted last fall after I after I lost my status she said okay well um let’s let’s look around and then the Ping um opportunity
Presented itself we signed the we signed up to do it um sign on the dotted line start you know the start date was was decided and uh and I was going to play these two Mondays and then and then go to work so it just happened to it
Happened to work out perfectly Monday then um this week to the WM I mean you couldn’t you couldn’t have written a better story or a better script right yeah I mean uh someone said you know your career your full-time career as as Jim has said many times we’ll probably
See him in the PGA Championship here next year or the year after but um it’s like your your full-time career would have ended in obscurity at the waste management Monday and instead it became the story of the week I mean it has to be I assume having your family there dad
Mom was there your wife all your kids had to be so again it just doesn’t happen in golf just the scenario walking away like that kind of just never happens in this game right right like like you said I mean the Monday was going to be my last my last event okay
What if I you know oh you know what if I make the playoff great three you know a four for three and I’m the one guy that doesn’t get through okay well Jimmy hardk didn’t make it through and everybody goes okay you know and then those those three guys play the event
Great and uh and I would have known that that was it and nobody else probably would have known so yeah you’re right this this worked out great and you know having all the family there it was it was great it was hard at times to stay
Focused I would say I was I was walking down a few Fairways especially on on Sunday and i’ I’d glance over and see my kids you know jumping on dirt or you know trying to poke their hands with a cactus or whatever and and uh it’s just
It’s fun to see them out there and and I I’d be like tearing up and I have a you know foot birdie putt I’m like okay you know hey hey let’s go you know I got to make this putt here this still still means something um and especially on the
Last toll I you know probably couldn’t tell I had that nice six foot I hit that nice one in there for six feet I get up on the green I and I go around to the other side of the hole to read my Putt and I just it’s just dead in line with
My family just right on the other side and I’m like oh God so I just start like start crying I’m like okay I gota I got to focus for this punt I mean I couldn’t stop I couldn’t stop feeling emotion even even when I went in hit the pot I
Said well it’s just it’s going to go in or it’s not you know there was there wasn’t much I could do about it and uh and then and then all the emotions started flowing um did you know that a camera was following you along on 18 Jim
I just watched before you and I got on here and watched the the golf the Golf Channel piece was very very cool no no yeah I didn’t I didn’t know that yeah I’ll I’ll send it to you I have a link to it but uh the family like they walked
They followed you all up 18 is is very cool um so uh what What’s Next you’re moving you and I talk before we started recording here eventually your job will be in Arizona right is that is that where you’re familes got to move in the meantime and uh and and start start
Jamming away at your Cub cubicle yeah yeah maybe like like I said my friend sent me a picture uh I got a cubicle I was right at the end I’m I’m psyched about it and uh yeah I start later this month and I’ll probably um commute down
Here and work while my while me and my family try to find a house and while my son finishes out the school year in Colorado and then we’ll move down hopefully In the Heat of the summer so we can just Dive Right In and get the full experience of uh of an Arizona
Summer and um and then that’ll be that we’ll be here working and uh hopefully playing some golf transfer my membership to the pg of America I think we had mentioned that um and try to try to qualify for this and the Shriners and and the PGA Championship um um big events like that
That’s that’s the goal now and uh the game will certainly uh will still be there I’m just still still going to work um as hard as ever as as I can on on being the best player I can awesome what was uh I mean we’ll leave the negative
Stuff out of the waste management what was the crazy I mean how insane was it on Saturday yeah I was insane I I think the best um um example is normally you know I’ve played this twice now uh 2017 and then this year normally when you play holes
One two three four five six you kind of get like a reprieve you get a little bit of a break from the from the crowd everybody hangs out on the backside like 10 11 and then especially 15 16 17 18 right and and so when we finished round
Two on um let’s see it was weird because all the weather all these days run together yeah so I fin I technically finished round two in the morning on Saturday in the rain uh play well which I was thankful for made the cut and then
Had had a little bit of time uh while the other wave finished came back out and we started I think about about 2:00 or 2:15 off of one me me Martin LED and um Adrian dant desas um we were teeing off number one and we go out there and
This whole was just absolutely lined with like people 20 deep and I’m going oh my gosh what is happening right now I mean these people were amped so um one two three four I mean just the entire course from then on was 20 people deep and these people were Rowdy you know I
Got on the tea and I was getting them going you know I was firing them up they they wanted to see some golf so you know one’s just a little straightforward just a par four you know little three-wood out there and then and then a nine into
The green wedge into the green so it but it was I mean it was electric and then um unfortunately it didn’t get to 16 that day didn’t get to 16 on Saturday because because the daylight um ran out but it was it was crazy it was
Incredible and then I got to play 16 twice on Sunday which was which was also incredible that that hole is just unbelievable I mean people are so rowdy what was kind of your conversation with your college coach and your family right after Jimmy and then I’ll let you get
Out of here and move on to important things like moving your life new no yeah I appreciate you uh always following and always supporting uh my journey no me and me and my coach Ty Kimbell um we just we we were having a great time like
I was telling you he was he was tearing up on the last I was tearing up on the last as we as we finished you know we had a nice nice hug nice Embrace and uh and we were just soaking it all in as as
Much as we could um you know coming down the stretch made made few nice birdies coming in uh which which helped uh helped the paycheck P down payment on the new house is gonna be exactly yeah exactly my wife you know said hey nice job that’ll help the down payment and um
She said we could have used a few more birdies though no I’m just kidding but uh no me and my coach we had a we had a great time and I think he was really excited to be on the bag you know he he CED the Monday for me and I said all
Right you you up for doing the you do in the event let’s go I mean and uh you know he doesn’t um walk that much nowadays you know being the college coach but I think by the end of the week he was pooped he was tired we had a we
Had a great week he he did great out there he worked hard I worked hard um and then uh and then we celebrated we went we went to a friend’s house and watched the Super Bowl had all the friends friends and family over it was incredible had a nice dinner um a few
Beverages as you would imagine so we had it we had a great time you know uh celebrating together how many people were there for you specifically uh Jim on on Sunday in the weekend do you do you have a count do you know oh probably 40ish um between you know family and
Friends and then you know a lot of a lot of them had to take off right away after that get back to their respect States um but we had we had you know 20ish um celebrating together after the round 2025 um which was which was incredible just to see that many people come
Together a lot of my old college teammates um extended family a lot of extended friends um neighbors people here in the in the plaza um just people from all over the place people I golf with back home I mean it was just it was incredible well Jimmy as we have said
Many times on here does doesn’t mean it’s the end just the end of a full-time playing career uh I’ve I said if you just won this week and then just P out would be unbelievable just come back play the Masters and just peace out that would
That’d be epic epic so awesome you know a huge fan and uh I mean this is this is a w the true win-win uh you get to spend time with your family still play competitive on the side and uh be home and not miss all those birthdays and
Stuff like that so yeah thanks for the time Jim I know I know it’s been a crazy crazy week thank you Ryan thanks for following along thanks for always supporting and uh go team hardk there we go
