Russell Knox has 73 good reasons to look forward to today’s (THUR) ‘Take 2’ restart to the prestigious Players Championship.
It will be exactly one day short of a year since the PGA Tour despatched a group text to all Tour members and caddies mid-evening on the 12th March, 2020 to advise the Tour’s premier event had been cancelled.
The next day, and now known as golf’s Black Friday, Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan advised the Tour was going into an immediate three-event lockdown.
That would later extend to a day shy of three months with a resumption on June 11th in Fort Worth, Texas.
Looking back 12 months, Knox was contesting the $15m event for a seventh straight year so experience was in his bag.
Knox went out a year ago but was was left shocked after horribly five-putting his opening hole from 38-feet for a starting triple-bogey ‘7’.
He dropped further down the board with bogeys on nine and 11 but then brilliantly turned around his fortunes when the proud Scot chipped-in for an eagle ‘2’ right of the flag at the 12th before a birdie on 16 and then exactly some revenge on 17 also with a birdie in a gutsy fightback round of 73.
Twelve months ago on the 18th fairway at TPC Sawgrass – Teddy Sotsky (second left)who attends the local Ponte Vedre High School and who is a member of the North Florida Junior Foundation that Russell Knox is ambassador caddying over the back-9 for the Scot. Sotsky ‘won’ the job of caddying for the nine-practice round, and holes 10 to 18, in having his name drawn from a hat. Full-time caddy Brad Whittle in left of photograph
It left Knox trailing 10 shots behind Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama.
What then unfolded mid-evening that day shocked golf followers around the globe.
Knox recalled: “I was in bed but I was woken-up with a bunch of text messages coming in all at once, and I recall saying to myself ‘wait a minute, what’s going on here?’
“In reading the statement from the Tour, I was 100% behind the Tour’s decision and everyone out here last year agreed with Jay (Monahan – Commissioner).
“While the Tour was kind of forced into it, looking back now a year it was the only decision they could have made.
“Everyone was arriving back to the course on the Friday talking about the decision and really all we could do was to clean-out our lockers and head home but clearly not knowing at the time it would go way beyond the expected three weeks and last three months.
“And now 12 months on, we still have to undergo testing. I hear today, also, Danny Willett’s tested positive so it’s still not back to normal and who knows when it will be normal.
“At least I now get a second chance in playing the first hole and hopefully better than I did last year (smiling)”.
But while the players are tested week-in and week-out, there is a continuing downturn for the players, their support team and importantly family, as Knox explained.
He said: “Every week the Tour continues under the COVID conditions in place but there’s just not the same kind of feel going from tournament-to-tournament as it’s all so different now with the routine needing to be tested every week.
“It’s not the same in not being able to have your family in attendance, agents, the media and all that kind of stuff.
“I’ve always said the Tour is like a big circus. You come into town to perform and then you pick up, travel and perform again.
“It is just very bizarre times at present”.
Joining Knox this week is fellow Scot’s Martin Laird, and who was runner-up in 2012 to Matt Kuchar, and Players Championship debutant and top-ranked Scot Bob MacIntyre.
And MacIntyre now lofty status is recognised by the PGA Tour having been drawn with reigning European No. 1 Lee Westwood and former Open champion, Louis Oosthuizen.
