Knox is a dual British and United States citizen and although he carries two passports, the 31-year-old left no doubt where his loyalties lie after carding a 68 to finish at 14-under-par 266 at River Highlands in Cromwell.
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He shot a final-round 68 on Sunday to narrowly win the Travelers Championship by one stroke ahead of Jerry Kelly, but it was Jim Furyk who stole the spotlight.
“To have a little, small place in history is simply a dream”.
Furyk bounced in an eagle from 135 yards on his third hole, ran off seven straight birdies around the turn and picked up his final birdie on the 16th hole with a putt from just inside 24 feet. “I texted back and forth with him, and kept working on some things in my setup that we were working on, and kind of today felt like I wanted to go out there and shorten and tighten up my swing a little bit”.
It took some gloss of the doughty Knox’s superb performance this week, all four of his rounds in the 60’s to back up his win at the WGC-HSBC Champions. She was trying to become the second player to win the tournament and NCAA individual title in the same year.
Kelly still walked off 18 with a 64 on the day, a cumulative 13-under 267, his best four-round score in his 18 years of coming to Cromwell.
Although born in Wisconsin, Kelly’s collegiate town has fully accepted him as one of its own.
“I’m still a little stunned and a little flabbergasted”, said Furyk, who even had a putt for a 57 on the final green.
Former Travelers victor Marc Leishman (71) dropped nine shots back after sharing the second round lead with Berger, Van Aswegen and Henley.
“Jim beat me by 10 shots on the front nine”, Appleby said.
After choosing to lay up on the par-5 13th because his tee shot landed in a divot, Furyk took the first of three straight pars, leaving him still 1 shot short of history. He couldn’t save par but escaped with a bogey after chipping within 10 feet of the cup.
Knox hit his tee shot on the par-4 18th right and into the crowd, and his second shot into a green-side bunker below the hole.
BLAINE, Minn. – Joe Durant made a 10-foot eagle putt on the first hole of a playoff with Miguel Angel Jimenez to win the PGA Tour Champions’ 3M Championship.
“I knew I had my work cut out and I just needed to hit one good shot on the hole to make a par”, said Knox. I know what this course is like.
Knox opened with consecutive 67s and had 64 Saturday.
Watson and six others in the Travelers field, including Americans Patrick Reed (271) and Matt Kuchar (272), now head to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
“They showed me more love than they ever have throughout my career here”, Kelly said.
Furyk became the first player to record a round of 58 or better on the PGA Tour when he reeled off a final round of 58 to complete an historic moment in the game. Furyk also shot a 59 in the third round of the 2013 BMW Championship.
Furyk, the 2003 U.S. Open champion and victor of 17 Tour events, said the 58 had to be put into the context of the ultimate goal on the Tour – winning.
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Jacksonville University graduate Russell Knox got the trophy. Knox was projected to rise to fourth in the FedExCup standings. The three-time PGA Tour victor did so at Woodmont Country Club on June 5, 2000, during the first round of a qualifying event for the US Open. Defending champion and world No. 3 Jordan Spieth will not participate. It was subsequently verified by Guinness World Records as the lowest officially recorded score in golf.
