Russell Knox improved his prior best Quail Hollow score by six strokes on the opening day of the Wells Fargo Championship in suburban Charlotte, North Carolina.
Knox didn’t drop a shot in recording birdies at his fifth and sixth holes and then holing a superb 18-foot birdie putt at the third hole or the 12th of his round.
It left the Florida-based Scot trailing just four shots behind American Robert Streb and the clubhouse leader with a seven under par 65.
Russell Knox .. “The worst I could have shot was a 69”. (Photo – Fran Caffrey/www.golffile.ie)
However fellow American and four-time PGA Tour winner Patrick Reed had moved to seven under par with two holes to play.
Knox is competing for a first time on the 2017 PGA Championship host course since his only appearance in 2012 when he missed the cut with scores of 77 and 73.
However since then Knox has gone about establishing himself as one of the best players yet to win on the PGA Tour with a second place in last year’s Honda Classic and already two thirds this year.
“Three under par is a good start but in saying that I left a few out there,” said Knox.
“I was three under par with four holes to play and then had a lot of chances, so the round could have been really good and overall I hit the ball great.”
Knox had been speaking last Sunday at TPC Sawgrass that he was looking forward to returning to Quail Hollow given he was a rookie pro when last teeing up in Charlotte.
And clearly since he was last in the home city to the NFL’s Carolina Panthers Knox is not only three years older but he’s three years wiser, stronger and also has the strength of a good marriage.
“I just expect more of myself now,” he said.
“I am a lot more mature both personally and in terms of my golf but then some days you do feel more relaxed on the course and today was one of those days.
“I just had this attitude of hit it, find it and hit it again whereas other days it can be very frustrating.
“And besides Quail Hollow presents a lot different challenge than Sawgrass and here you have to give a smash off the tee whereas the greens here are very grainy and very fast down grain.
“So three under par is probably the worst score I could have shot today and I’ll take a 69 as it always could have been worse.”
