Palm Harbor, Florida …
Russell Knox was clearly chuffed to finally take some sting out of the Copperhead course on day one of the Valspar Championship at the Innisbrook Resort here at Palm Harbor.
Knox heads into day two trailing just two shots adrift of Canadian Corey Conners (67) who leads the field on four-under par in cold and very windy conditions on the Florida west coast.
The Jacksonville-based Knox capped his round with three birdies in his opening seven holes and it is only the third occasion in 17 Copperhard course rounds he’s broken 70 on Valspar host course.
And in checking Knox’s stats he missed just one fairway and took just 25 putts.
Russell Knox matches his lowest Copperhead round in posting a fwo-under par 69
“Any time you break 70 around here you have to be happy,” said Knox.
“It was windy, pretty cool during the day. Tough to pull clubs. Always is on this course. I mean the wind swirls throughout the trees and got it wrong a few times but, obviously, got it right a few times, too.
“The strength of my game today was I hit the ball well. Every part of my game was pretty good. Had a good time with Paul Casey and Nick Watney, had a good group, all under par.”
Knox headed into this year’s event with a lowest round of 69 first on day one of the 2015 event and on route to sharing 33rd place and two years ago he shot a 69 on day two, and on his way finishing T56th.
But it was the start that delighed Knox the most racing to be three-under par through seven holes and all thanks to birdies at the 11th, 13th and 16th holes and after starting his round from the 10th.
“I mean I got off to a great ballstriking start hitting the par 5 on 11 in two with my 3- hybrid, and I don’t think I ever went for that hole before,” he said smiling.
“I holed a beautiful putt there on our 4th hole from off the green. Definitely was nice to get the, nice to see some under par scores there.
“I then holed a beautiful putt there on our 4th hole from off the green. Definitely was nice to get the, nice to see some under par scores there.
“So, there won’t be too many of those groups today. Saw some good shots, which helped. Drove the ball nice, made some nice putts.”
Knox dropped a shot at his eighth hole but picked-up the shot with a birdie at the downhill par-5 first hole of the course before a bogey at his 12th.
He holed a great 14-footer for birdie at the sixth or the 15th hole of his round before the only other bogey in his round on his 15th hole.
For the purists, Knox was super-accurate off the tee hitting 12 of 13 fairways while he recorded just 25 putts. In fact, he putted a total distance of just 63-feet and one inch.
