Shanghai surprise as Knox flawless in WGC debut

It was 30-year-old Knox’s first victory on either the PGA or European Tour, and will help boost his current world ranking of 85.

“This tournament is so big, it’s too big – I know that the final day, a lot of people are going to be hitting a lot of birdies”, said Li, who tied for 35th at last year’s tournament.

“This will be the first and only time I would say this, but I was not expecting myself to be in this position come Sunday when the week started”, Spieth said.

American Jordan Spieth returns to world number one after finishing in joint seventh, with Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy a further shot adrift with 66. “My goal is to finish top 10”. The cheers were for Li Haotong, the 20-year-old from Shanghai who received rock star treatment during a wild final round that ended with the best finish ever by a Chinese player on the PGA Tour: a tie for seventh, five strokes back. Spieth opened the final round with bogey, and was never able to carry the momentum from Saturday into Sunday.

The Ulsterman is resigned to potentially losing his edge heading into the season finale in Dubai, where he has locked up the season-long points race two of the last three years. McIlroy, who closed with a 66 and tied for 11th, is not playing the BMW Masters next week in Shanghai. In the group ahead was Jordan Spieth, on his way back to No. 1 in the world.

He played alongside Johnson, whose power can be so intimidating that Knox didn’t watch him hit a shot for 12 holes. A birdie turned into a double bogey, and Johnson never recovered. He finished at 20-under 268.

Roberto Castro topped the leaderboard at 15 under with rounds of 62 and 67 with 76 players yet to completed the second round at the Country Club of Jackson.

Willett briefly made it five with a gain on the 16th but back-to-back birdies from Knox put him back in the box seat.

His final round 68 saw him finish 20-under, two clear of Kevin Kisner and three clear of Danny Willett, who equalled the course record with a 62. He finished with a 67, then failed to get up-and-down for birdie from the right greenside rough in the playoff. Our vision was to have a player from the program finish in the top 20 in the World Golf Championships within a decade. He made a 10-foot birdie at No. 10 and another birdie on the 11th.

The clincher came at the reachable par-4 16th. A first Masters appearance has been sealed for next April.

“I missed four putts inside eight feet – I’m not going to complain about the round but I felt like the way I played could have been 10 or 11-under, for sure”.

Ten years ago, Knox moved from his native Inverness to college at Jacksonville University, Florida, to pursue his golfing dreams.

Knox has played in Scottish Opens and the Open past year in his homeland as a pro, but is not yet a European Tour member although the lure of the Ryder Cup is now strong. His only other close call was a four-man playoff in the 2014 Honda Classic that included McIlroy and was won by Russell Henley.