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| Knox pictured with Peter Wong, CEO of the HSBC |
Russell Knox survived a nerve-wracking final day to pull off a victory in the WGC-HSBC Champions on Sunday that will catapult him into the big-time and completely change his career.
The 30 year from Inverness only found out he had made it into the field to play in his first WGC event last Friday as seventh reserve, after American JB Holmes withdrew.
Now he is £900,000 wealthier following a two stroke triumph for a first victory that will open so many doors, including a place in the field at the Masters next year.
He is also the first Scot to win one of the four WGC events that sit one rung below the majors, and which came into being in 1999. Perhaps we should just start calling him ‘Opportunity Knox.’
Afterwards he looked in shock himself. ‘This is going to take an awful long time to sink in, it just feels incredible,’ he said. ‘It’s so emotional right now, it’s amazing to win a tournament of this stature.’
Knox has lived most of his life in America and plays on the PGA Tour, where he finished 34th on the FedEx Cup standings last year. He is not a member of the European Tour and therefore ineligible to play in the Ryder Cup next year, but you can bet he will come under pressure to join after this impressive victory.
Playing alongside Dustin Johnson, who won this title here two years ago, Knox was not fazed for a second as he hardly missed a shot all day to outplay his more lauded playing partner and prevail over American runner-up Kevin Kisner.
A marvellous final day at Sheshan Country Club saw Englishman Danny Willett equal the course record with a 62 to finish tied third with fellow Englishman Ross Fisher and put a wholly different complexion on the Race to Dubai.
The 28 year old from Sheffield had trailed Rory McIlroy by 400,000 points going into this event but now there is just 74,000 between them, despite the fact the Northern Irishman played pretty well himself in finishing with a 67 for tied seventh place.
Willett is also staying on in Shanghai to play in the penultimate event in the race, the BMW Masters. With McIlroy resting up for the final leg the following week, Willett has an obvious chance to ratchet up the pressure still further. As he said himself: ’If I win next week it will be almost game over.’
What a time to play one of the top three rounds of your career. ‘It’s special if you shoot 62 back home playing with your mates but to do it in the final round of a WGC event with so much at stake is very special,’ said Willett. ‘I’d put it up there with the final rounds I played to win the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa and the European Masters in Switzerland. I played great from tee to green and holed my share of putts as well.’
Knox’s victory really is fairytale stuff. After learning that he had got into the event while playing in Malaysia, his wife Andrea spent last Friday at the Chinese embassy in Kuala Lumpur organising a visa.
On Wednesday, Andrea was carrying her husband’s clubs during a practice round, since his caddy’s visa still had not come through. From day one he had put himself into contention and kept his composure throughout. Indeed, so good was he, the only question his play raised was why it has taken him so long to reach the winner’s circle.
Certainly, Europe’s Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke will have taken note of his calmness under extreme pressure. Another happy camper was fellow Sheffield citizen Matt Fitzpatrick, whose memorable rookie season continued with a tied seventh placed finish.
The 21 year from Sheffield has now mustered no fewer than nine top tens, including a maiden victory, of course, in the British Masters. He is now on the cusp of sealing the world top 50 place at season’s end that will earn him an invitation to the Masters.
After his fine third round 63 many expected Jordan Spieth to pull off another triumph but it didn’t quite happen for the brilliant 22 year old American on this occasion, as he settled for a tie for seventh place following a 70. After the year he’s had, chances are he will not be beating himself up too much after falling just short for once.
Playing alongside him, 20 year old Chinese Haotong Li buckled under the immense expectation early on but showed great heart to thrill the massive home gallery and finish with a 72. He finished on the same mark as Spieth and Fitzpatrick to become the first player from China to finish in the top ten in a WGC event, and earned some words of encouragement from the double major champion.
It was another enjoyable moment in a day full of them.
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