Philadelphia’s Alex Knoll excited to play in first career major at PGA Championship

Philadelphia Section PGA professional Alex Knoll went right to work bright and early on his first day at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco preparing for this week’s PGA Championship.

He arrived at 6:45 a.m. Monday and beat all of his fellow competitors to the practice range. He played a practice round by himself, noting he “probably hit about a thousand balls on the golf course, got to putt every green, hit so many short-game shots on all the holes.”

Knoll worked hard during his 10 hours at the course, but he also took a few minutes here and there to enjoy the sights, and we’re not talking about the Golden Gate Bridge and Fisherman’s Wharf. The 35-year-old Lehigh Valley resident is beyond excited to compete in his first career major, and he’s taking it all in.

“It is everything I could have dreamt about, and more,” Knoll said Monday night in a telephone interview. “I putted next to Tiger [Woods], talked to Brooks Koepka for a minute — his locker is right next to mine in the locker room. I saw everyone that we know on TV. They’re right there in front of you.

“I’m putting with them on the green, hitting balls on the range. It’s incredible. It’s absolutely incredible. Monday was the best golf day of my life, [Tuesday] will be probably the best golf day of my life moving forward. It’s unbelievable.”

Of course, this isn’t a normal major. Knoll, of Jim Thorpe, the head teaching professional at Glen Brook Golf Club in Stroudsburg, and his caddie were tested for COVID-19 upon arrival with negative results. They will undergo daily temperature checks. Most players and caddies are at the same hotel in a “modified bubble,” Knoll said.

In what is usually a busy week for autograph seekers leading up to Thursday’s opening round, Knoll hasn’t signed his name once. There will be no fans on site, something that club pros who compete locally on Mondays are accustomed to, which is why Knoll is fine with it.

“I think it helps me and the other club pros because we’re not as worried about all the groans when we make a mistake in front of all the people there,” he said. “I think it allows you to kind of focus just on what you’ve got to do. There’s less distraction because the people aren’t there, and obviously I think that can only help players like me.”

Knoll just missed qualifying for the 2019 PGA Championship, shooting 76 in the final round of the PGA Professional Championship to miss the playoff for the last available invitations by two strokes. This year’s competition was canceled due to the pandemic, but Knoll finished in the top 20 of the 2019 national points list to earn a PGA berth, aided by his victory last September in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship.

Knoll said he’s gotten in better physical shape the last two months. Coupled with his recent practice sessions, he feels the hard work paid off as he began his tournament prep on Monday.

As for TPC Harding Park, a public facility, he said he feels one of the main keys this week will be to hit fairways, that if he doesn’t drive the ball well, “I’ll have no chance to compete.” He likes to draw the ball and he says the number of right-to-left shots needed on the course will help him swing with confidence.

Knoll said he’s sorry that his parents can’t see him play in person because of the no-fan policy. He is thinking of them because they “devoted their entire lives to see me succeed in the game.”

And the result is to compete in a major championship.

“This is kind of showing them all what they all put into me kind of pays off here, that we’re here,” he said. “Even if it’s for two days, for Thursday and Friday, we’re still here. And I can say until the day I die that I played in a major.”