"Who the hell are they? It's a new low" - Despite Jake Knapp’s fairytale win, 1x PGA Tour winner criticizes quality of Mexico Open field
Jake Knapp won the 2024 Mexico Open at Vidanta, whose field included only four members of the top 50. This was a detail that some did not take kindly to, including Mark Lye.
Lye is a former professional golfer, with one PGA Tour victory to his name. Following Jake Knapp's victory in Mexico, Lye commented on X (formerly Twitter):
"I don’t know how the PGA Tour can defend this leaderboard in Mexico. Very good players, but who the hell are they??? This is a new low…."
Jake Knapp is the third rookie to win on the PGA Tour this season. Nick Dunlap (The American Express, when he was still an amateur) and Matthieu Pavon (Farmers Insurance Open) are the others to have done so.
The Mexico Open at Vidanta was Jake Knapp's ninth career PGA Tour tournament and the fifth of the season. Pavon won on his 11th start on the circuit, while Dunlap's victory came in his fourth event at this level.
Who is Mark Lye, the former player who commented on the lack of quality at the Mexico Open won by Jake Knapp?
Mark Lye played professional golf for 20 seasons (1976 - 1995). He was a full member of the PGA Tour from 1977 to 1991.
During his first season as a professional, Lye played on the PGA Tour of Australasia. After retiring from the Open category, he played a few tournaments on the PGA Tour Champions.
On the PGA Tour, Lye played 506 tournaments, with 332 cuts passed. He accumulated 41 top 10s and 19 top 5s. Lye ranked third five times and finished runner-up thrice. His only victory came at the 1983 Bank of Boston Classic.
Lye is also credited with one victory on the PGA Tour of Australasia (1976 Colgate Champion of Champions). He participated in 21 Majors, with a T6 at The Masters in 1984 being his best result.
After retiring from professional golf in the Open category, Lye began a career in broadcast golf, working for media outlets such as Golf Channel and Sirius XM. The latter fired him in 2022 for making the following comment while serving as host of The Scorecard (via Yahoo Sports):
"You know the LPGA Tour, to me, is a completely different Tour than it was 10 years ago. You couldn't pay me to watch. You really couldn't. Because I couldn't relate at all. It's kind of like, you know, if you’re a basketball player — and I'm not trashing anybody, please don't take it the wrong way — but I saw some highlights of ladies' basketball. Man, is there a gun in the house? I'll shoot myself [before] I watch that."
After his 50th birthday, Mark Lye joined the PGA Tour Champions and played 40 tournaments, with a couple of top-10 finishes.