Scotland’s Russell Knox superbly birdied two of his closing three holes to secure a share of ninth place in the Safeway Open at Napa, California.

Knox went into the final round of the opening event of the 2020/21 PGA Tour season only four shots off the lead and soon cut that margin to just three when he birdied the second hole on the Silverado Resort course. The birdie was Knox’s 15th birdie in 56 holes.

However, the Scot dropped shots at the third, fourth and sixth holes before regrouping to grab birdies at the seventh, ninth and 12th holes.

He bogeyed the 13th but then ended his Safeway campaign holing a 10-footer for birdie at the par-5 16th and a nine-footer at the next, the par-4 17th in an eventual round of 70 for a 16-under par tally.

The effort handed the double Tour winning Knox a share of ninth to finish five shots adrift of American Stewart Cink, who had posted back-to-back weekend rounds of 65 to win by two shots at 21-under par.

Knox’s top-10 showing was a best result since his share of eighth in the 2019 Charles Schwab Challenge and it sees Knox lying ninth on the new season FedEx Cup standings, and an effort he can surely build-on in coming weeks.

And Cink rolled-back the years ending an 11-year victory drought since defeating fellow American Tom Watson in a play-off to capture the 2009 Open Championship at Turnberry.