Victory for Scotland’s Russell Knox in last week’s WGC – HSBC Champions event in China will not count in the Scot seeking to qualify for the 2016 European Ryder Cup team.

Knox has until the final day of the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai next week to join the Tour for next season by submitting an application form and paying the £500 fee, but he cannot retroactively claim the points from Shanghai.

“It’s going to be a goal of mine to make the European Ryder Cup team and this obviously springboards me to a place where … I mean yesterday I was nowhere near,” Knox said straight after his Shanghai victory.

Russell Knox (SCO) winner of the WGC HSBC Champions.(Picture: Golffile | Fran Caffrey)

“I have no idea where I stand for making the team or what I need to do. But I look forward to finding out and giving it a run, that’s for sure.”

However, and without wishing to take anything away from Knox’s stunning first European & PGA Tour triumph, but a leading European  Tour official advised:  “Russell Knox, he is eligible to join the Tour from the start of the 2016 season, which is obviously the week after Dubai.