RUSSELL KNOX JOINS MARTIN LAIRD ON US PGA TOUR IN 2012

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
Inverness exile Russell Knox will join Martin Laird on the United States PGA Tour next season.
Knox finished joint 24th in the US Nationwide Tour championship at Daniel Island, South Carolina today (Sunday) to clinch a final placing of 12th in the money table with earnings of $242,821.
The top 25 at the conclusion of the championship automatically gained promotion to the US PGA Tour in 2012.
Englishman Gary Christian finished ninth in the table with $260,654 earned on the Nationwide Tour this season. He too goes up alongwith Knox but another Englishman, Greg Own, who finished joint 18th in the championship failed to make the top 25 and he is doomed to play at least another season in America's No 2 professional circuit, having lost his card for the US Tour a year or two ago.
Knox has rounds of 71, 73, 75 and 71 for a total of 290 in the US Nationwide Tour which was won by American Ken Duke with scores of 72, 68, 70 and 6 for 10-under-par 278.
Knox is based at Jacksonville Beach, Florida. He stayed on in America after four successful years at Jacksonville University. He was one of the most prominent players on the NGA Hooters Tour after turning professional but failed several times to graduate through the US PGA Tour School.
Earlier this year, after coming through a Monday qualifier, he got a place in a US Nationwide Tour event and finished second, earning enough money to gain him playing rights on the circuit. He later won a Nationwide Tour event which saw him rise into the top 25 money-winners and he stayed there until the end of the season.
One of Russell's few disappointments during the 2011 season was being knocked back in a bid to gain an invitation to play in the Barclays Scottish Open on its move to the Castle Stuart venue - which is not all that far away from the Knox family home.
Promotion to the US PGA Tour will strengthen Knox's case when he tries again - as he says he will - to play in the Scottish Open in 2012.
Martin Laird also won his place on the US Tour through finishing in the top 20 of the Nationwide Tour three or four seasons ago.
Aberdeen-born Michael Sim, who was brought up in Australia from the age of seven and also gained promotion to the US Tour through the Nationwide Tour, will lose his playing rights on the "Big League" after finishing outside the top 200 on the money table.
Sim's career has been plagued by injury even before he made the leap up from the Nationwide Tour.


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