Black as Knight – Winston Black Buys Knight Rider’s “Kit”

Wednesday, April 18th, 2012

Bubba at the Masters; Black outside his Texas practice facility with the newly purchased “Kit” from the show Knight Rider

Black As Knight

April 18, 2012
A few weeks after Bubba Watson purchased the General Lee and promptly won the 2012 Masters, Team 98’s Winston Black is trying to pull the same trick and has purchased “Kit” from the 80’s hit television show Knight Rider. Just two weeks before the 2012 Phi Alpha Cup, Black made the purchase at a Las Vegas charity auction last weekend and has been seen driving Kit up and down “The Strip” in his home of Dallas, TX, with the Phi Alpha Cup riding shotgun. The purchase, rumored to be in the $1500-$1800 range, has many golf writers asking the question: Is this a life-long love affair? Or is it a desperate, copycat grab for good luck after his team’s leader, Dave Johnson, went down with a serious thumb injury?

While not as mercurial as some PAC players as Team 97’s Steve Burr or profligate with his Benjamins as former 97 member Chandler Willett circa 2007, Black is in fact notorious in golfing circles for being overly superstitious. A recently-circulated rumor had him painting his Callaway Big Bertha white in order to match the rest of his team’s new white TaylorMade r11 drivers. Some doubt though that Black’s motivation could be solely superstition-driven given the fact that he is often seen at Dallas area driving ranges wearing cut off jeans and a David Hasselhoff tank top.

Black’s infatuation with the show Knight Rider, its marvelous “star car” Kit, and the show’s real star David Hasselhoff goes back as far as Black’s late 20’s. Black was first exposed to the series after joining a local bowling team that went by the Knight Riders moniker. After inquiring about the genesis of the Knight Riders name, Brian Gantt, the team’s lead bowler, sent him home with the series box set. Watching the series apparently became an obsession for Black, who throws Knight Rider themed birthday parties for each of his 3 boys, every year.

Prior to focusing on his acquisition of “Kit,” Black had been working hard on ball compression (seriously) at his practice facility in Texas, which as many remember, was not Black’s first foray into the world of compression. In 2007 Black made news for debuting form-fitting compression shorts in Day 1 of the PAC. It remains to be seen whether the similar debut of “Kit” will bring Team 98 the good luck Black may be seeking, or whether focusing on a superstitious purchase of a sports car will simply drive his team into a ditch.