Russell Knox needed results before he could find confidence, and now his confidence is soaring.
Just over six months ago, Knox got in as an alternate for his first World Golf Championship, scrambled to secure a Chinese visa and wound up winning the HSBC Champions in Shanghai. He has become more visible since then, only partly because of his steady play.
Knox, 30, had a one-shot lead with three holes to play in the Irish Open until Rory McIlroy hit two shots with a fairway metal that will be talked about in Ireland for years -- onto the 16th green for a two-putt birdie (and a two-shot swing for the lead) and to within 3 feet on the 18th hole for eagle.
"I got beat by two of the best shots I've ever seen in my life," Knox said.
It was his third runner-up finish since Shanghai -- he went straight from China to Mexico and lost in a playoff to Graeme McDowell -- and it moved Knox to a career-best No. 23 in the world. And he wasn't the least bit surprised.
"I've always had to prove to myself I can do it before I really feel like I can do it," Knox said. "It's been like that at all levels. After coming close a few times, then winning in Shanghai, all of a sudden I proved to myself I can do it, and I should be able to do it again. I've just kind of run with that."
His game is efficient rather than dazzling, though it's hard to beat the results.
Since missing the cut in his Masters debut, Knox has a pair of runner-up finishes and a performance at The Players Championship that brought him just as much attention for how he handled misfortune with humor and honesty. He was contending at the TPC Sawgrass when his tee shot on the island-green 17th came up a yard short. Rattled, he shanked the next one, then put a third in the water. He made a 9 and tumbled out of sight.
He called it an "epic fail." He said he would be "terrified" hitting that shot the next day (he hit the green and three-putted for his only bogey in a final round of 66). And he earned plenty of fans by going on Twitter to say, "SHANK you very much for all the nice messages."
Olympic look-ahead
Seven years is a long time, especially in the context of golf in the Olympics.
The IOC voted Oct. 9, 2009, to put golf back in the Olympics. Based on the world ranking that week, the American team would have been Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker and Kenny Perry. All but Mickelson are no longer in the top 250 in the world.
It won't go away
Tom Brady's four-game "deflategate" suspension has already been revoked by the U.S. District Court, then reinstated, and now the Patriots' quarterback and his team of lawyers want the case heard "by a full panel of 13 judges on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals." If they reject it, the appeal could go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"Forget deflating footballs," wrote Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbabe.com, "can we suspend Brady for criminal waste of taxpayer money?
Sports quiz
Russell Knox attended this Florida university.
Sports answer
Jacksonville University
Sports on 05/25/2016