The golf world is reeling following the sudden death of PGA Tour star Jake Knapp’s girlfriend, Makena White at age 28.
Knapp, 31, started dating White in August 2023, after the Ottawa, Canada native caught his attention on Instagram. The couple didn’t go public with their relationship until the golfer won the 2024 Mexico Open, Knapp’s first PGA Tour win.
Knapp, currently the No. 80-ranked golfer in the world, has not commented on White’s death. However, his father, Robert Knapp, reposted a photo of White on his Instagram Stories with a broken heart emoji.
After the devastating news of her death was announced on White’s official Instagram page, condolences filled the comments section. CBS Sports reporter Amanda Balionis wrote, “Getting to know Makena was one of my favorite parts of this last year. So much laughter, passion and she never met a stranger. I will miss her light… it touched so many.”
Golf reporter Dan Rapoport added, “What a light she was.”
However, it was never White’s intention to be known as a golf WAG. She reflected on news of the relationship going viral after the PGA Tour’s official X account asked followers to “share a piece of golf lore about yourself” on July 28.
White wrote in a since-deleted post, “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.”
Jake Knapp’s Girlfriend, Makena White, Took A Break From Social Media Amid Anxiety On Social Media
White posted on X on August 7, “Woah… am I… back? Not sure. Twitter still gives me crippling anxiety so maybe we’ll take this slow.” Golfer and sports commentator Smylie Kaufman replied, “Nice to have you back. We can’t lose the captain of the #itsknapptime ship 🚢 ⚓️.”
White announced a week earlier that she was taking a break from social media. She wrote, “Taking a step away from twitter for a min. Really sucks when people use things I do and share about my personal life to discredit & sabotage my professional life – but I suppose that’s one of the dangers of social media. Catch ya in a bit Twitter fam.”
She added in a follow-up post, “To clarify, this was not provoked by Twitter trolls & haters, yall entertain me and I don’t bat an eye. You can thank the golf media who use every tweet of mine for clout & write articles about them for this hiatus.”
Makena White Spoke About The Difficulty Of Making It To Jake Knapp’s Tournaments Amid Her ‘Demanding’ Job
While White’s Instagram page was filled with photos from Knapp’s golf tournaments, she had a successful career of her own.
A graduate of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, with an honors degree in communications and software engineering, per her LinkedIn profile, White worked as an on-site representative for LeMaitre, a surgical equipment company.
During an appearance on the Birdie Little Secrets podcast in February, White discussed how her “super demanding” job made it tough for her to get to Knapp’s golf events. She kept working during the Mexican Open in February 2024 before she saw him “going off” during the third round.
“I just kept kind of looking at my friend out of the corner of my eye and I was like, ‘I think I need to book a flight,” she said. White got there while Knapp was playing on the 7th hole on Sunday. After her reaction to Knapp’s win went viral, “That was the beginning of what turned out to be the craziest year ever,” she recalled.