Jake Knapp & Patty Tavatanakit

December 10, 2025

MODERATOR:  Good afternoon. We would like to welcome the defending champions of the Grant Thornton Invitational, Jake Knapp and Patty Tavatanakit.

Can we just open up with some of your favorite memories from your win from last year?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT:  Probably all the putts I made.

JAKE KNAPP:  I agree.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT:  And actually, like I think it was the first day you hit that 3wood out of the rough and you hit it to like a foot on the first hole. I was like, wow, that was pretty amazing. I don’t know if you remember that.

JAKE KNAPP:  Yeah, I do remember that.

Yeah, I think there’s a lot of good stuff to take away from last year in general. I think we had like some rocky stretches through the last round, but I was happy with how we were able to finish and close it out.

MODERATOR:  This is your second year playing together. How different is this experience now that you guys had a chance to know each other and get more comfortable with each other?

JAKE KNAPP:  I feel like there’s less question marks coming into the week. I think anytime you don’t know somebody going into a tournament like this, and we obviously don’t play in stuff like this very often so you’re not sure exactly how it’s going to go. And obviously once we met and hit it off, it was very easy. But now knowing that we’re already in a good spot, we’re friends and like it’s very easygoing, so just makes this week even more simple.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT:  Yeah, agree with that.

MODERATOR:  Can you just talk about how the state of your game is looking heading into the week as you try to defend?

JAKE KNAPP:  I mean, I guess we’re going to find out. I’ve been a little out of practice for a while, but no, I’ve been working hard recently. Even just the last couple days, it feels pretty good, feel like I’m driving it pretty well and still putting good. I think the little things, distance control, stuff like that, you know, might be a challenge at times, but I think for the most part I’m feeling pretty good.

MODERATOR:  Patty, you had a top10 at CME just a couple weeks ago. How’s your game feeling heading into the week?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT:  Pretty steady. I feel like it’s been like steady all year. Just a little bit here and there missing a couple things to really put it together. But overall I feel like I’m right where I need to be. I’m not necessarily like looking for a certainty in like I’m going to play well, I’m going to play bad. I feel really good with like the process that I’m taking. That doesn’t guarantee the result, but like overall I’m just happy to be here finishing off the year at this event with Jake.

Q.  Patty, looking ahead to the 2025 season, what did this win late in the year last year do for your confidence?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT:  I mean, I felt really confident with my putting right after the tournament. Then obviously like there was no more tournaments left to play because it was last, but that offseason really kind of just slowed things down a little bit. Getting back on was a little rusty, but I would say like overall I feel like I see some good stuff, and you always want to see good stuff when you play tournaments. So it is something you can always take home, yeah.

Q.  Jake, I know we talk about this tournament as a good partnership between the two organizations. For you, why do you feel like it’s so important for the PGA TOUR and the LPGA Tour to engage in this kind of way?

JAKE KNAPP:  I think whether it’s in the proams or the tournament itself, I think to showcase them a lot more and show how good they really are.

I don’t think  I don’t think people realize how good they are inside 150 yards, or how good they are if you just put our balls next to each other at 170 yards kind of thing.

Yeah, I think it’s awesome to showcase their talent, obviously our talent as well. It’s just a unique atmosphere. And you get to create friendships and kind of lifelong friendships ideally if the week goes well.

Q.  Obviously you two have a deeper connection off the golf course, your backgrounds in L.A., but do you all watch for each other on broadcasts when you’re not playing now?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT:  I do, I do. I always cheer him on. That 59 was amazing.

JAKE KNAPP:  Thank you.

She’s the only person I have favorited on my LPGA leaderboard. I try to stay out of the golf scene if I’m not playing or doing anything, I just try to focus on what I’m doing, but then at the end of every week I usually just pop in and just see how she did.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT:  Sorry to disappoint.

Q.  Similar vein, have you all caught up, texted each other throughout the year as you gear up for this event?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT:  Yeah, I always text him “good round” or “just keep it going” because he was close a couple times and I was really rooting for him to take the win.

JAKE KNAPP:  Yeah, we texted a few times back and forth. Then she texted me way too recently. She probably texted me a couple weeks or a month ago asking if I still wanted to play together. So I was like yes, yes, I think we’ll definitely be playing again.

MODERATOR:  Anyone else? I’ll close out with are there any type of skills that you guys have learned from each other since playing together?

JAKE KNAPP:  I love watching her chip. I mean, she lives in Orlando. She has a super good short game and good hands. Just how grainy it is out here in general, I try to watch a lot of what she does around the greens and just like how clean everything is.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT:  That low fade off the tee for Jake is very amazing. I can’t hit it as far as he does when I do that, but it’s still like that’s a good shot to have when you’re just trying to have a fairway finder.

MODERATOR:  Awesome. Thank you, both. Good luck this week.

JAKE KNAPP:  Thank you very much.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT:  Thank you.

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