THE WOODLANDS, Texas — Gene Knight was headed to the range one day at The Woodlands Country Club when his wife said, “You’re not leaving here without a kid.” After Jayna handed him daughter Cheyenne, Gene set her up with a cut-down hybrid and the promise of $1 for every ball she hit past the 100-yard marker. Gene lost $10 pretty quick that day.
He couldn’t have known then that 26-year-old Cheyenne would grow up to not only win her first LPGA title in Texas, but contend in her first major championship back home in The Woodlands, where the Chevron Championship is being staged at The Club at Carlton Woods for the first time.
Knight’s 3-under 69 on a muddy day in Texas puts her 4 under for the tournament and three shots back of leader Lilia Vu. Tournament officials gave Knight 10 tickets for the week, and she asked friends for about 15 more. After such a strong start, a request for more might be in order as she’s poised to contend in a major for the first time.
“Someone asked me if it is more pressure, and I don’t think so,” she said of playing in her former hometown.
“They’re going to love and support me no matter what. I think it’s just being comfortable just seeing familiar faces and trying to give them some water on the golf course, so they don’t pass out.”
Boyfriend Easton Stick, a back-up quarterback for the Los Angeles Chargers will be in the gallery supporting. Knight met Stick at the Palos Verdes Championship last year when he played in the pro-am.
Knight grew up about 2 miles down the road from the Nicklaus Course on the second hole of the Palmer Course. She played the Nicklaus Course with family friends a time or two but was too young to remember much about it.
“I would play from the red tees,” she said, “and we would be here for snacks or running in the bunkers.”
Stacy Lewis was the local legend when Knight was a kid. Lewis graduated from the local high school and went on to become the No. 1 player in the world.
In 2003, Lewis’ high school team had 30 girls on it. It was the same for Knight, who said there were A and B teams for the girls as well as a JV team her freshman year. The boys B team at the Woodlands, in fact, was so good when Knight was a freshman that they won the state title.
“I actually have a signed flag from when (Lewis) won in Mobile,” said Knight.
This week, Lewis, a 13-time LPGA winner, including two majors, is staying at her childhood home about three and a half miles from the Nicklaus Course. The 2023 and 2024 U.S. Solheim Cup captain opened with a 73 and is hovering around the cut line.
“It’s something that definitely growing up here I thought would never happen,” said Lewis, “to bring a championship like this to The Woodlands. But it’s been awesome. There’s so many people walking around, so many people that I know.”
After her freshman year, the Knights moved to Aledo, Texas, just west of Fort Worth. That’s where her golf career really blossomed with a golf scholarship to Alabama. In 2019, at age 22, Knight won her first LPGA title at the Volunteers of America Classic, 65 miles from Aledo.
With her parents now building a house back in The Woodlands area, Knight will be forced to move out, and recently bought a townhome in Fort Worth about a mile and a half from where she practices at Shady Oaks.
“It’s an off-week thing,” said Knight as she signed electronic mortgage documents after Tuesday’s pro-am round, “just buying a house because there’s no time to do it.”
Knight never had the chance to attend an LPGA event until she qualified for one her freshman year of college. She marvels at what a women’s major in a golf-centric place like the Woodlands might do for juniors.
Knight’s tournament career started with three-hole competitions from the middle of the fairway. Gene said first instructor, Donnie Massengale, nicknamed her “one more” because she always wanted to hit one more shot.
“She wanted perfection,” he said.
