Russ admits he needs blockbuster week
Woods will take a walk on Wild side HOW TO QUALIFY MOLINARI ROSE HATTON CASEY
JIM FURYK will ask Ryder Cup vice-captain Tiger Woods to leave the room during wildcard talks if the former world No.1 doesn’t qualify for the US team.
The 42-year-old needs to claim his first tournament victory since 2013 to force his way into the eight automatic spots in the final qualifying event.
Furyk said: “I went through that in 2016 with Davis Love and Tom Lehman. I went to the bathroom and came back 10 minutes later to give them a chance to speak.
“We’ll work through those situations.” RUSSELL KNOX knows a “massive” PGA Championship showing at Bellerive will see him packing his bags for Versailles. The first four from the European Points List qualify along with the first four from the World Points list. The rest of the team is made up of four wildcards Currently the following players would qualify from the European list: And the following four would qualify from the World list: “On the bubble”: Olesen, Knox, Fitzpatrick, Cabrera Bello Expected wildcards: Garcia, Poulter, Stenson. BY BERNIE McGUIRE Carnoustie the fairways here at Bellerive are like carpet and they’re so soft you could lie down and nap.
“If you hit a good drive here you will be on the fairway so you’re not going to get bad bounces.
“The great thing is there are some cracking holes here at Bellerive with the par-3 sixth hole (213 yards over water) is a real beast while the ninth is pretty long and uphill.
“All the greens also have sections so it’s going to reward good iron play and with the key getting on the fairway from where you can attack because scoring will be low.
“While Carnoustie was virtually all along the ground this week is all through the air and length wise there will be no real advantage as it’s not massively long.
“The big boys can be aggressive off the tee then have wedge in their hands but it comes down to the greens.”
Knox finished his preparations for his fifth straight PGA Championship playing Bellerive’s back nine after going round the opening nine on Monday but sticking to the range and putting green on Tuesday.
He said: “I had an epic sleep after Monday’s heat and just worked on my game Tuesday as there is not too much to learn out there.
“The front nine was there very much in front of you because if you hit good shots you were rewarded and if you hit bad shots you would be punished.
“The back nine is very much a mirror of the front.
“Bellerive is a little different from what we play normally on the PGA Tour but it will be the best course we play this year.” RUSSELL KNOX