Russell Knox will favour slow, steady improvement over any urge to seek rapid progression after returning to the world’s top 50 following his extraordinary victory in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.
Knox holed from 40 feet for birdie across the 18th green in regulation to join
Ryan Fox on 14 under par, the New Zealander then missing from eight feet for a birdie of his own to win the title.
When the players returned to the 18th for a sudden-death play-off the situation was repeated, Knox holing from almost exactly the same place for birdie before Fox saw his attempt from close range catch the edge of the hole and spin out.
Read more: Nick Rodger: No guarantees in this game but Russell Knox shows his class again
The victory is Knox’s first since 2016 and takes him from 87th in the world rankings to 49th, as well as firmly into contention for a place in Europe’s Ryder Cup team in Paris in September.
And the 33-year-old Scot believes he has learned his lesson from the aftermath of that previous win in the Travelers Championship, which saw him reach a career-high of 18th in the rankings.
“I got up to 18 in the world and I saw how good a place that was,” Knox said.
“I think I tried to get better too quickly. I’ve kind of preached to myself and younger players my whole career that you just kind of get better slowly without almost forcing it, without trying to get better.
“You just naturally evolve as a golfer. I think I got to the point where I was really close to being right where I wanted to be, top 10 in the world, and I just pushed too hard and I got worse.
Read more: Nick Rodger: No guarantees in this game but Russell Knox shows his class again
“Golf is just hard. Once you lose your confidence, which I did a little bit, and I was tinkering with equipment, I just didn’t quite get it right. But I knew starting this year I’d played good golf and I knew that eventually something was going to happen.
“The last couple of months have been really good, just not quite finishing off and quite holing the putts and hitting the shot at the right time. These last two weeks [he finished second in the French Open], it’s been really good.”
Knox will now turn his attention to two tournaments on home soil, the Scottish Open at Gullane being followed by the Open Championship at Carnoustie, but admits fatigue may well be an issue.
“This was my fourth in a row and I had a week off after three in a row before that,” Knox said.
“I’m pushing it to the limits here. I think I’ll play nine out of 10 weeks and nobody likes to do that, but when you’re playing well it’s much easier for sure because you have adrenaline.”
Read more: Nick Rodger: No guarantees in this game but Russell Knox shows his class again
Meanwhile, this week’s Scottish showpiece was dealt a blow yesterday with the late withdrawals of Tommy Fleetwood, Henrik Stenson and Alex Noren from the field.
Fleetwood, the world No 10 who was runner-up in last month’s US Open, posted a top-10 finish the last time the Scottish Open was held at Gullane in 2015 but he has decided to rest up ahead of next week’s Open at Carnoustie.
Noren, who won the Scottish title at Castle Stuart in 2016 and claimed the French Open just over a week ago, has also opted to rest while Stenson has pulled out due to a niggling elbow injury.
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