Knox Soaring With A Tour First & Two Eagles In His 807th Tour Round

4 years ago by Comments Off on Knox Soaring With A Tour First & Two Eagles In His 807th Tour Round

Russell Knox was soaring with a historic PGA Tour first of two eagles in the same round muscling way into contention at the Genesis Invitational in suburban Santa Monica.

Knox, 36, eagled both the first and 11th holes in the 807th Tour stroke-play round of his PGA Tour carer in a second-day score of 67 to climb the 50 or so steps to the stunning Riviera clubhouse in the then lead at seven-under-par before ending nine shots shy of tearaway leading Joachim Niemann and posting a pair of 63s to lead at 16-under.

Knox was the very first out on day two of the $12m event and wrapped up in woolens to fight off the early morning chill however the Scot was quickly warming in sending his second shot at the par-5 opening hole, 17-feet shy of the flag and then holed the putt for his eagle ‘3’.

Knox was the very first out on day two of the $12m event and wrapped up in woolens to fight off the early morning chill however the Scot was quickly warming in sending his second shot at the par-5 opening hole, 17-feet shy of the flag and then holed the putt for a ‘3’.

He said: “First hole, obviously teeing off almost in the dark, hit a great drive and just ran through the fairway, hit a nice little choppy 5-iron off a pretty severe downslope and it rolled out to, I don’t know, maybe 15 feet, got that for eagle. Obviously best way to start your round, with an eagle”.

The eagle lifted Knox to five-under to in total but he gave a shot back at the second before sending his tee shot at the par-3 sixth hole to just six feet for birdie.  Knox dropped a shot at the eighth.

The current World No. 251 then hit a ‘bullet’ second shot from the right side of the fairway at the par-5 11th to 10-feet and knocked in a second eagle ‘3’.

Knox said:  “I hit a nice drive down the right at 11, kind of like thinned a 3-wood slightly and it was leaking. That was kind of one of those lucky moments like when you have a great round, just skirts the bunker and was able to hole it from, I don’t know, eight feet or so. I mean, if things aren’t going your way, that goes in the bunker, you don’t get up and down. That was a nice little kind of momentum keeper”.

It moved Knox to three-under and he brilliantly moved to four-under holing a 25-footer for birdie at the par-3 16th, and it could have been four-under with his birdie attempt at 17 lipping-out ahead of a closing par

He said:  “Yeah, I mean, obviously delighted with the position I’m in. I had those two or three kind of good breaks go my way which always helps to be up near the top of the leaderboard. Tee to green I played great. I felt this kind of building the last couple of months, so not overly shocked. Just got to find a way to hole a few more putts and should be a fun weekend.”

Knox, and seeking a first win anywhere since capturing 2018 Irish Open, is now excited heading to the weekend rounds.

He said:  “I’ve not made the weekend cut here ever, so I’m absolutely delighted that I’m getting a chance to play two more days, and for it to be 7 under is obviously nice. It’s obviously a course that’s difficult to keep going for four days. I mean, obviously 15 under’s scary good. It’s dry, it’s warm, the greens are good, so obviously he’s on full cylinders.

“So, delighted with seven-under and obviously if I get to double digits is always my goal every week, so that would be super nice”.

 

 

 



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