RUSSELL KNOX kept his Barclays Championship hopes alive holing a 15-foot birdie putt on the final green on the second day of the event in Edison, New Jersey.

After a superb opening round that put Knox within a stroke of the lead, the Scot struggled to two over par through 14 holes ahead of his closing hole birdie in a round of a one-over-par 71 for a three-over-par tally on the Plainfield Country Club course.

“A birdie at the last always ensures lunch will taste good and it was nice to see that one drop,” he said.

“My three bogeys were from three three-putts, so that was very frustrating and I will need to work on that aspect of my game this afternoon.

“Fortunately, no one has run away with the tournament and three under par is right up that but the key will be to eliminate those three putts.”

Sweden’s Henrik Stenson (66) shares the clubhouse lead on six under par with 25-year rookie American Tony Finau (69), a towering 6ft 4in player from Salt Lake City with four brothers and two sisters who chose golf over basketball.

It is not lost on Stenson that next week marks the start of the 2016 Ryder Cup qualifying process and with the now 39-year-old looking for a repeat of two years ago when he virtually wrapped up a third European Team cap some nine months before competing at Gleneagles.

In fact, Stenson created golf history becoming the first player to finish No.1 on both the PGA and European Tour’s and also by capturing both season-ending events.

“The start of Ryder Cup qualifying was quite nice for me two years ago as I won the Deutsche Bank Championship and then went onto to win the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup, and then went back to Europe and won the DP World Championship along with the Race To Dubai title,” he said.

“So I wouldn’t mind going to Boston next week and repeating that win and wrapping-up my Ryder Cup selection prior to Christmas like I did two years ago.

“There is a lot of big tournaments still to be played both here in the States and in Europe in coming months, so I have probably seven, eight and maybe nine events to do that so that is the goal as I want to so much qualify automatically for the team without needing a pick from Darren (Clarke).”

Martin Laird will join Stenson and Know in Boston despite the likelihood of missing the Barclays cut by a stroke with scores of 72 and 71 for a three over par total.

Laird will drop to 81st on the FedEx Cup standings but still well inside the top-100 moving forward to next week’s event.