The smoothest-swinging man on the PGA Tour announced that he underwent surgery on his hand this week.
Jake Knapp posted a trio of photos from a hospital room on social media Tuesday night, with a caption that read, "Earlier this morning, I underwent surgery to repair a ligament in my left thumb. Happy that everything was successful and I'll be back to doing what I love soon! So thankful for my team and the doctors at HSS that helped get this done so I can get back to play at 100%."
Earlier this morning I underwent surgery to repair a ligament in my left thumb. Happy that everything was successful and I’ll be back to doing what I love soon! So thankful for my team and the doctors at HSS that helped get this done so I can get back to playing at 100%
#LTD pic.twitter.com/Xesrnu0qWy
— Jake Knapp (@knapptime_LTD) August 25, 2026
Knapp's season came to an end Sunday at the BMW Championship, the second of three legs that make up the FedEx Cup Playoffs. He entered the week with an outside chance of cracking the top 30 and advancing to this week's Tour Championship in Atlanta, but a T-41 finish at Bellerive wasn't nearly enough to do so. He ultimately finished 38th in the season-long points standings.
Knapp has quickly grown quite the fan following since arriving on the PGA Tour in 2024 thanks to his silky swing that many would say is their favorite in pro golf. The 32-year-old Southern California native, who now resides in Scottsdale, Arizona, has one Tour win to his name, which came just a month into his rookie season at the 2024 Mexico Open.
Your favorite golfer's favorite swing 😮💨
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 27, 2026
Jake Knapp goes in-depth on his signature tempo, shot shapes and more. pic.twitter.com/nY9KLqJI2B
Knapp got off to a hot start in 2026, finishing T-11 or better in each of his first five starts. He missed the cut at the Players Championship, but bounced back with a T-6 at the Texas Children's Houston Open and a solo 11th-place finish at Augusta, earning himself an automatic exemption into the 2027 Masters.
From there, things went south for Knapp, whose thumb injury plagued the middle portion of his season. He finished T-74 at the RBC Heritage before withdrawing from three straight events ― the Cadillac Championship, Truist Championship and PGA Championship.
After two months off, he returned to competition at the U.S. Open, where he missed the cut. He failed to make the weekend in three of his final seven starts of the season, but managed to sprinkle in a couple solid results, including a T-13 at the 3M Open and a T-7 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
Knapp's social media post did not provide any information on how long he'll be sidelined following thumb surgery, but he has plenty of time to rest up. The only tournaments left on the 2026 schedule after the Tour Championship are the eight FedEx Cup Fall events, and there's no reason for him to hurry back to compete in any of those, considering he finished high enough in the standings to secure a spot in all the signature events next year.
Nick Stavas is a digital producer and commerce writer for Golfweek. Follow him on X/Twitter (@nickstavas).
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: PGA Tour pro Jake Knapp has surgery to repair ligament in his thumb
