Knox ready to take giant step into the unknown

Russell Knox would have been perfectly entitled to start 2014 with a moan.

The man from Inverness saw his position on the US Money list fall from 65th to 74th last Sunday without him even hitting a ball.

The elite Tournament of Champions open only to last season’s PGA Tour event winners counted on the official money list. That meant a field of just 30 and no cut.

So Derek Ernst, with a nine-over-par last place, jumped up 33 places from 120th to 87th, whilst John Merrick, who was second last weekend in Hawaii, found his $63,000 cheque took him from 103rd to 76th place.

Russell’s compatriot, Martin Laird, improved from 165 to 97, by finishing 20th, but any feelings of Scottish solidarity were far from Knox’s mind.

”Right now I feel that the US Tour is split up into three categories,” he opined. “If you look at the superstars’ schedules, then as long as they put one foot after the other and remember to hold the club correctly, they are going to make a lot of money.

“As well as these guys getting into all the Majors, they get into the big-money tournaments with no cuts, so it is like they are playing for free money. I mean, as long as they have their ‘A’ game that week, they are going to win $100,000 and be close to having enough to keep their card.

“The next category is the guy that kept his card comfortably and who gets into all the tournaments. Obviously he still has to play well, but he has a huge advantage over the third category guys who finished down the list of qualifiers through the Web.com Tour. By the time they can get a number of starts, they do so under enormous pressure because they have so much catching up to do.”

The 28-year-old spared himself that task with firstly a high finish in the Web.com qualifiers, and then a solid performance in the Fall Series. However, despite missing the cut in The Sony Open in Honolulu this weekend by one shot, the Scot remains upbeat.

“I’ve had a positive start to the season because it has allowed me to free myself up for here and the West Coast swing starting next week,” he told me from Hawaii. I was consistent, four finishes around 30th in all of the Fall Series, and while I was maybe a wee bit disappointed that I hadn’t done better, everybody has those same thoughts about themselves. Looking at the big picture, it was a great start.”

But the Scot admits the next few weeks are akin to the great unknown.

“You are coming off a spell where you have spent a lot of time sitting on the couch watching the festive programmes on TV, so it may take a couple of weeks to get your eye back into it,” he said. “But my mind is in a very good place. We will just have to wait and see.”

Knox will play six in a row starting this week, laughing off any notion it’s overkill.

“I’m not one to spend hours on the practice range slamming hundreds of balls,” he revealed. “I won’t go to the course on a Monday, maybe play a round on the Tuesday, and just hit a few chips and putts on the Wednesday. So, it’s not a gruelling week by any means.

“More like the old Billy Casper adage if you find you have achieved your goal with a few shots, then quit!”