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Being in a relationship with a professional athlete tends to come with some perks, but you also risk dealing with some potential downsides. Jake Knapp’s girlfriend has become very aware of that reality since he started to make a name for himself on the PGA Tour, as she shed light on a couple of awkward moments she’s had to deal with thanks to his success.
Jake Knapp is a bit of a late bloomer who had to do his fair share of grinding before earning the right to play on the PGA Tour for a living. He turned pro in 2016 after playing college golf at UCLA, but he had to endure three stints on the Korn Ferry Tour before earning the card that gave him the right to permanently compete against the best players on the planet beginning in 2024.
The 31-year-old got his first (and, to date, only) win on golf’s premier circuit at the Mexico Open during his rookie season, but the man who’s made over $6 million as a pro garnered plenty of attention when he shot 59 at the Cognizant Classic earlier this year while narrowly missing an eagle putt that would have tied Jim Furyk’s record for the lowest score in PGA Tour history.
His girlfriend was in attendance for both of those achievements, and she recently noted she had to deal with some repercussions after getting the chance to celebrate with him for the world to see.
Makena White, Jake Knapp’s girlfriend, has had her spot blown up multiple times thanks to his PGA Tour prowess
The girlfriend in question, Makena White, is an Ottawa native who first started dating Knapp in the summer of 2023. However, as she noted in a response to a tweet prompting people to “share a piece of golf lore about yourself,” they’d managed to keep the relationship under wraps until Knapp prevailed over the rest of the field while getting the aforementioned win at the Mexico Open.
My (previously very private) relationship was hard launched on national television at the 2024 Mexico Open.
A year later I got outed playing hooky from work on a Thursday cause that same bf shot 59 & photos of us cellying were all over the internet.
2 years of getting sewered https://t.co/4WECpVvXrr— Makena (@makenawhite) July 28, 2025
According to her LinkedIn profile, White has continued to work as a Vascular & Cardiac Surgery Liaison for a biologic implants company based in her native Canada while dating Knapp. It appears she (somewhat understandably) made up an excuse to take a day off and head to Palm Beach to watch him compete in the Cognizant Classic, and she also ended up in the spotlight that was thrust upon him after he became the 15th golfer to record a sub-60 round on the PGA Tour.
Her profile says she’s still employed by the company in question, so it appears they gave her a pass.