Easy Ryder Knox is confident of securing place on Clarke’s team
Knox feels confident of place in Ryder Cup
The BMW PGA Championship is a prestigious title in its own right but here at Wentworth this week it comes giftwrapped with an enormous Ryder Cup bonus.
There’s no Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, henrik Stenson or Sergio Garcia, which might be a shame for spectators, but the fact those four have already practically locked up their Ryder Cup spots alongside Masters champion Danny Willett — who is here — brings into sharp focus who will join them.
What we have in their absence, therefore, is a marvellous chance for others. With seven places still up for grabs, no wonder every conceivable candidate apart from Ian Poulter is present to contest a leading prize so substantial that for a number of them it would basically add up to a first-class ticket to join the party in Minnesota in September.
What do we make of the qualifying campaign to date, with the hard summer slog to come?
Most people, including the last captain Paul McGinley, were convinced this would be a hard team for rookies to break into — the Dubliner predicted a maximum of three — but they have made a tremendous impression to this point.
Of the nine players who presently occupy the automatic placings, no fewer than five are prospective debutants, including three englishmen in Willett, Matt Fitzpatrick and Andy Sullivan, plus Spaniard Rafa Cabrera Bello and Thorbjorn Olesen from Denmark. Furthermore, just outside the frame are a number of other potential rookies like the Dane Soren Kjeldsen, big-hitting Belgian Thomas Pieters and Bristolian Chris Wood. Then, perhaps most intriguingly, there’s the US-based Scot Russell Knox (below), who would be in the top nine as well if the victory that changed everything for him in the WGC-Champions tournament in China last November had counted, rather than being his cue to join the european Tour and start his race from there. Rather than proving a one-hit wonder, the 30-year-old from Inverness has finished second in three events subsequently — most recently at last week’s Irish Open — to break into the world’s top 25. No wonder he sounded so confident about his chances of making Darren Clarke’s team.
‘It’s a huge goal now,’ said Knox. ‘After I won in China, it was realistic (that I could) make the team, but at the same time there’s still a lot to be done.
‘Now I’ve finished second three times since that. I played good enough to be right up there at The Players Championship for 71 holes (he famously took nine on the 17th in the third round).
‘So I’ve had four really good tournaments since then and, to be honest, it’s fair to say I expect to make the team given how I’ve played the last six months.
‘There’s no point backing away from it. You have to sit back at night and think: “hey, I want to be a superstar and I want to make this Ryder Cup team”.
‘So while I’m not saying I’m the man to beat this week by any means, I do expect to play well.’
Knox’s final round of 68 in Shanghai gave him the first prize of £900,000 and would actually have taken him top of the Ryder Cup qualifying race with 1,264,451 points if he had been on the european Tour.
‘After my win in China I gladly joined the Tour to get a push for the Ryder Cup team,’ said Knox, who chose this week’s event at Wentworth ahead of one of his favourite PGA Tour events at the Colonial in Texas in order to further his ambitions of teeing it up against the US at hazeltine later this year.
‘Wherever I am in the points list, arguably I’m higher up because my win didn’t count, but obviously Darren Clarke knows that.
‘But at the same time, I won that tournament and no one can take that away from me, so we’ll see where it ends up.
‘But I feel like if I keep playing the way I am, I should make it. It’s the best of the best that make the team, so you really have to deserve it and earn it. hopefully I can.
‘I got off to a slow start this year and wasn’t playing that well. But recently I have been in great form and had a couple of great chances to win, so I am very optimistic about my chances.’
The big surprise of the campaign so far is how many of the experienced players haven’t delivered. Think of the heroes of Gleneagles last time: what has happened to Martin Kaymer, Victor Dubuisson, Stephen Gallacher, Thomas Bjorn, Graeme McDowell, Poulter and the man who holed the winning putt, Jamie Donaldson?
In recent weeks we’ve seen signs of life from Luke Donald and most of the rest as well. Now, here at the West Course, all bar Poulter have this gilded opportunity to change the narrative.