A Journeyman’s Story

Jim Knous reacts after the final round of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, during which he secured conditional status for another season. Photo: Cliff Hawkins, Getty Images

If you missed it – and it flew well below the wind-blown radar from Bermuda last week – the story of Jim Knous bears telling.

Let’s start with who Jim Knous (pronounced kuh-NOUSE) is.

He is a 31-year-old American who plays the PGA Tour and, to this point anyway, the most distinctive thing about him may be that he’s surely the only tour player to have attended college at the Colorado School of Mines, which isn’t known as a golf powerhouse but does make him an Oredigger (school colors are blue and silver).

You may remember that Knous held the 54-hole lead in the Fortinet Championship, the wraparound season opener played in Napa, California, in September, though he faded to a T11. If you know that, congratulations on spending an inordinate amount of time following the PGA Tour.

As to why Knous matters now:

Knous had reason to smile in Bermuda. P...