Knox makes a perfect pitch to Captain Clarke
RUSSELL KNOX will be extremely unlucky if he is not one of the 12 European players to face the USA in the Ryder Cup.
His victory in last Sunday’s Travelers Championship was a game changer. He showed his temperament and holed a great putt on the last to seal the win.
That must have impressed captain Darren Clarke. You want winners, and guys in your team who can hole pressure putts. Russell did both with that one stroke.
The way he reacted by throwing his cap in the air showed he knew how important that moment was – possibly for his whole career.
Before then, I would have thought that he was an outside bet. Now he has given Darren a very complicated decision.
The stats are certainly on Knox’s side as to why he merits a place on the team.
He is in fourth place on the Fed-Ex Cup standings and he is one of only three Europeans to win in America this year.
According to the World Rankings, he is the sixth best European, in 18th place, and if his win at the WGC in China had been included, Knox would comfortably be in the automatic spots.
However, it was only after that result that he joined the European Tour, with his stated aim being to make the Ryder Cup.
Since then, his results had been steady. But Russell will have known deep down that he needed to do something special to turn heads.
He is just outside the nine qualifying spots at the moment. But the Inverness golfer is bang in form, and won in America’s backyard against players he could face at Hazeltine.
The Scot is now breathing down Matt Fitzpatrick’s neck, with the young Englishman struggling for form over the summer.
After his high finish at the Masters in April, Fitzpatrick looked a certainty to qualify but he has perhaps shown his inexperience since then.
He won in Sweden in June but that may not be enough.
As a proud Scot, I would be delighted to see Russell in the team, so another chapter can be written in our long and proud history with the Ryder Cup.
But I’m not saying this out of blind patriotism. This guy is a very consistent player, who would not let anybody down and is one of the form Europeans in 2016.
If Russell doesn’t qualify automatically, he would be relying on a wildcard, which I’m not sure are needed any more by Europe.
You could have six players from a European list and six from a World list and you would end up with the best players in that calendar year. You could not argue with that.
Darren might suddenly have to upset a few people with his choices and that is never easy.
I picked Mark James over Eamonn Darcy in 1991. My relationship with Eamonn was never the same after that.
Players will think it’s personal. But, as a captain, what is best for the team must always be at the forefront of your mind. BERNARD gALLAChER