The Woodlands, Texas — Gene Knight, a golfer, was heading to the range at The Woodlands Country Club one day when his wife told him, “You won’t leave here without a child.” Jayna then handed Gene Knight her daughter Cheyenne and Gene gave her a hybrid cut down, promising $1 for each ball she hit beyond the 100-yard mark. Gene Knight lost $10 in a hurry that day.
Cheyenne, 26, didn’t know that she would one day compete in her first major championship in The Woodlands where The Chevron Championship will be held for the first time at The Club at Carlton Woods.
Knight’s 3-under-par 69 in Texas on a wet day puts her four shots under par for the tournament, and three shots behind leader Lilia vu. Knight was given 10 tickets by the tournament officials for the week. She then asked her friends to give her another 15 or so. It’s possible that after such a great start, she should ask for more tickets as she is about to compete in a major tournament for the first.
She said, “Someone asked if there was more pressure and I didn’t think it was,” about playing in her hometown.
They’ll love me and support no matter what. “I think it’s being comfortable with familiar faces, and giving them water on the course so they don’t pass out.”
Easton Stick will be there to support his girlfriend, who is a backup quarterback for the Los Angeles Chargers. Knight and Stick met at the Palos Verdes Championships last year, when Knight played in the pro am.
Knight grew on the Palmer Course, the second hole, about two miles away from the Nicklaus Course. She had played the Nicklaus Course a few times with family members, but she was too young to recall much.
She said that she would play off the red tees and we would come here for snacks, or to run in the bunkers.
Cheyenne Knight hits her second shot at the first hole in the second round of 2023 Chevron championship at The Club at Carlton Woods at The Woodlands, Texas. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images).
Stacy Lewis, the local legend at the time Knight was growing up, was an inspiration to him. Lewis graduated from a local high school, and then went on to be the world’s No. Lewis graduated from the local high school and went on to become the No. 1 player in world.
Lewis’ 2003 high school team consisted of 30 girls. Knight said that there were also JV and A teams for girls in her freshman year. Knight’s freshman year, the boys B team of the Woodlands was so successful that they won state championship.
Knight said, “I have a flag that was signed by Lewis when he won in Mobile.”
Lewis, who is a 13-time LPGA champion, with two majors to her name, will be staying in the childhood home of hers located about three and half miles away from the Nicklaus course. The U.S. Solheim Cup Captain for 2023 and 2020 opened with a score of 73, and is hovering near the cut line.
Lewis said, “It was something I never thought would happen growing up in The Woodlands. To bring a championship of this magnitude to The Woodlands. It’s been amazing. “There are so many people around me, people I know.”
After her freshman season, the Knights moved from Fort Worth to Aledo in Texas. Her golf career took off with a golfing scholarship to Alabama. Knight, at the age of 22, won her first LPGA at the Volunteers of America Classic 65 miles away from Aledo.
Knight, whose parents are building a home in The Woodlands, will have to leave. She recently purchased a townhouse in Fort Worth, about a mile from her practice at Shady oaks.
Knight said, as she signed the electronic mortgage documents following Tuesday’s pro am round: “It is an off-week issue. I’m just buying a home because there’s not time.”
Cheyenne Knight poses for a photo with her trophy at the Old American Golf Club in The Colony on October 6, 2019. (Photo by Chuck Burton/Getty Images).
Knight had never attended an LPGA tournament until she qualified to do so in her freshman year at college. She wonders what juniors could achieve with a women’s degree in a place that is so golf-centric as the Woodlands.
Knight’s career in tournaments began with three-hole matches played from the middle fairway. Gene said that Donnie Massengale was her first instructor and nicknamed “one more” for the fact that she always wanted one more shot.
He said, “She wanted perfection.”
