In the 1989 movie “Road House,” Patrick Swayze plays a tough guy named Dalton who is hired to clean up a rough-and-tumble bar named the Double Deuce.
Plenty of drinking. Plenty of fighting.
A couple of years ago, Jake Knapp spent nine months living a bit of that life as a bouncer at a Costa Mesa spot that was a high-end restaurant by day and a boozy adventure when the sun dipped below the horizon.
So the smile darts to both sides of his face when asked whether he has seen the flick.
“Of course,” Knapp said. “I’ve gotten that comparison a lot. It was mostly people being drunk and stupid. Yeah, there were fights every night.”
Knapp balled up his fists to face down Torrey Pines, challenging the bully that is the South Course to finish in a tie for third at the Farmers Insurance Open.
The UCLA grad birdied 18 on Saturday and, when eventual winner Matthieu Pavon bogeyed 17 to cut the lead to one stroke, hit around on the putting green.
Then, Pavon walked off with a clinching birdie and group-mate Nicolai Hojgaard sneaked past Knapp with a birdie of his own.
It was that close for the 29-year-old ranked 176th in the world with career PGA Tour earnings of $32,132 who had missed the cut in four of the previous six tournaments he has played.
Still, $477,000 beats a bar paycheck.
“Just a little bit,” Knapp joked. “I’m not someone swimming in cash.”
The bar-calming days likely are behind Knapp, who carded three rounds in the 60s to find himself in the hunt at the finish line. The golf game seems like a healthier way to make a living.
Plus, Knapp said he was 20 pounds heavier than his current 190-pound frame during his previous gig, where diplomacy proved the wisest strategy to diffuse dust-ups.
“I was better at talking people out of situations,” he said. “It was just a speed bump (for a job). I think I always knew this was my potential.”
Even if Knapp missed out on the tournament’s signature surfboard, San Diego could provide a springboard. Getting close injects rocket fuel into the ol’ belief system.
You’ve-got-to-see-it-to-be-it type of stuff.
“Yeah, a lot of confidence,” Knapp said. “I want to be able to compete on this tour and I want to win out here. But more importantly, just want to feel like I go out there and play to my full potential.
“Obviously this week was good.”
Good enough to be a career game changer?
“Last season, on (the) Korn Ferry (Tour) was a big year for me, just to go out there and feel like I’m ready for this tour and I proved that to myself,” Knapp said.
“Stop setting kind of external goals and trying to win this event, win that event, finish here, whatever. It’s just, go out there and play to my potential and feel like I squeezed every last drop out of my game.”
Knapp nearly squeezed even more out of a postcard-perfect day at Torrey Pines. He lost a stroke on 17 after a beautiful, arcing iron from the right-side gallery rough that landed within six feet. He had to reposition a snarl of TV and power cables before calmly hitting a spot-on dart.
When he missed the putt, he flipped his putter into the air and caught it at after a few rotations. Lost opportunities, so late in a tournament at this level, deliver a unique sting.
“Didn’t putt very well, but I think everybody probably struggled on that this week,” Knapp said. “… (But) I like how I handled everything. Yeah, looking forward to the next few tournaments.”
Playing so close to home offered a warming boost.
“I think I definitely got a few extra cheers, even if I tapped in for par,” Knapp said. “This is as close as I’ve ever gotten to playing a home event for me. Playing Korn Ferry, Canada, nowhere close. Yeah, it was really nice having friends, family and having some people out I haven’t seen in a long time.”
One day, the whole bar thing simply will be a grin-inducing side note. The name of the place could have been a club-swinging harbinger of things to come, though.
Hand-to-heart truth: It’s called The Country Club.
“I would tell people I was going to The Country Club and they thought I was heading to the golf course,” Knapp said.
These days, they’ll be right.
