OPPORTUNITY KNOX...TWICE
Scot’s green genius sinks Fox
NEWLY-crowned Irish Open champion Russell Knox won’t forget the 18th at Ballyliffin for as long as he swings a golf club.
The 33-year-old Florida-based Scot drained a 40-footer there yesterday to tie Kiwi Ryan Fox and then repeated the drill at the first play-off hole from almost the same spot to secure the €998,425 prize and surge into Ryder Cup contention.
‘I hit the purest putt of my life,’ said Knox, of the putt which gave him a shot at the play-off. ‘That’s why you play golf, to hole a putt like that on the last hole,’ he smiled.
Winner of the 2015 WGC HSBC Champions, Knox has emerged from a dip which struck not long after he was second to Rory McIlroy in the 2016 Irish Open at The K Club.
‘I got up to 18 in the world. I saw how good a place that was. I think I tried to get better too quickly and I got worse,’ he said. ‘But I knew starting this year that something good would eventually happen.’
Knox, who has jumped from 116th a fortnight ago into the top 50, became the first Scottish winner since Colin Montgomerie in 2001 and the ninth since George Duncan won the first Irish Open title in 1927.
On a day of unforgettable fire in Donegal — 14 players broke 70 — Knox (66) was the last man standing after he and Fox (68) finished on 14-under par.
Fox, son of All-Black Rugby World Cup winner Grant, lipped out from eight feet for victory on the 18th in regulation play, and again from a slightly longer distance in the play-off — the 13th at the Irish Open since Seve Ballesteros won at Royal Dublin in 1985. Holder Jon Rahm (66) rebounded from a treble-bogey at the 2nd with seven birdies and an eagle to tie fourth on 276 with overnight leader Erik van Rooyen (74).
The big-hitting Spaniard finished with four straight birdies to thrill the large galleries thrilled by his cavalier approach and knows he if can eliminate silly errors he can contend at The Open.
‘In the last two weeks, I’ve had four doubles and a treble and finished in the top five each time. If I can avoid that I know I’m playing well enough,’ he said.
Fox, Andy Sullivan and Zander Lombard, who tied sixth on 279, claimed the three exemptions for The Open at Carnoustie.
But this was a gripping day when Knox outwitted the Fox and executed as thrilling an Irish Open victory as any in its fabled history.