Crooked Stick, Carmel, IN … Russell Knox found ‘inner’ satisfaction finishing four shots clear of Rory McIlroy and only a shot back of Jordan Spieth who were his two playing partners on day three of the storm-affected BMW Championship in Indianapolis.
Knox birdied his opening three holes on route to a second straight 69 and a then share of 10th place ahead of the Sunday’s race to the Crooked Stick chequered flag.
In contrast, McIroy was more than 20 spots adrift of the Scot in posting a 73 to be at three under par and less than a week after muscling his way to victory in Boston.
Spieth bogeyed his closing two holes in a score of 68 to move to eight under par and with the up-coming Ryder Cup rivals not in any mood for a long fireside chat.
Side-by-side in the scorer’s area but it was Russell Knox finishing four clear of Rory McIlroy on day three of the BMW Championship.
In contrast, Knox was thrilled with his day’s work given he was constantly being out-driven by the current World No. 3 and 4.
He said: “After birding my first three holes, I thought here we go as I one-putted the first three holes on Friday.
“I got punished with bogeys after poor shots at four and six but overall I am so delighted how I hung in there, and after one-and-a-half inches of rain again overnight, as both Rory and Jordan were easily hitting it longer than me,”
It’s the first time also Knox has played alongside McIlroy since the four-time Major winner pulled off two of the best 3-wood shots of his career down the stretch to beat Knox earlier this year in the Irish Open.
Scotland’s top-ranked Russell Knox happily signing autographs after his round of 69 to move him to seven under par … And Knox wearing pink in honour of Arnold Palmer’s 87th birthday.
Knox said: “I wasn’t actually competing today against Rory but I did feel I needed to play well in his presence, and not because of not being picked for the Ryder Cup or anything.
“It was more of a selfish thing as both he and Jordan are superstars so I said to myself ‘let’s play good and try and beat them’, and it just adds to the fact that I do belong out here.
“And also you have to take into account all the crowd reaction as it was all about Rory and Jordan.”
Knox arrived in Indianapolis lying 7th on the FedEx Cup points standing but after two rounds had dropped to a projection of No. 9.
But then his strong third round showing has seen that projection adjusted to No. 8 but then Knox has other ideas heading into the final day in the Indiana capital.
“I set myself the target after the second round of finishing the tournament at 10-under par and now that I have moved up to seven under a 69 tomorrow will take care of that,” he said.
“So if I could shoot three under tomorrow that would be pretty good and that is only because the course is so wet and playing really, really long. I am hitting the ball well off the tee but it is just tough to hit 6-irons super close all the time.
“The rain has just made the par 5s play extra long.
“But then one of the most pleasing aspects today was no three-putts and that’s the second day I can say that, so that aspect of my game is very pleasing.”
In fact, Knox has averaged 29.3 putts per round whereas McIlroy is averaging 31.3 putts for each Crooked Stick round.
