BIG-TIME OPPORTUNITY KNOX FOR RUSSELL IN 2012

     RUSSELL KNOX, not as long as Martin Laird off the tee but straight hitting has been the key to the Inverness man's success as a professional.                    

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Colin@scottishgolfview.com

Move over, Martin Laird! There will be another Scot on the US PGA Tour next year.

Inverness-born Russell Knox, a resident of Florida's Jacksonville Beach since his four years at Jacksonvill University, on Sunday clinched promotion to the Big League by finishing 12th with earnings of $242,82 from 20 events on the US Nationwide Tour.

The top 25 go up en bloc to the US PGA Tour and Knox's elevation to the top grade has really not been in doubt since he won the Chiquita Classic at Rivers Bend, Cincinnati after coming through a Monday qualifier in April to get a place in a Nationwide Tour event and then finishing second, winning enough prizemoney to gain a regular place on America's No 2 pro tour.

In all Knox, who is 26, had three top 10 and five top-20 finishes in 2011.

The Scot turned pro in 2007 after four successful years on the US college golf circuit. Martin Laird did likewise as a student at Colorado State University and Laird, too, jumped up to the US Tour from the Nationwide Tour.

Prior to his breakthrough into the Nationwide circuit this year, Knox had toughened up as a competitor on the NGA Hooters Tour where you have to score low to survive. Knox served his pro "apprenticeship" on that satellite circuit and was one of its leading money winners over three or four years.

His ambition was always to make it up to the US PGA Tour but he failed every year to gain pass marks at the Qualifying School.

The only other route to the Big League was through the Nationwide Tour and, having got his foot in the door as a Monday qualifier in April, Knox was not going to let the opportunity pass him by.

Putting up his feet up back home at Jacksonville Beach since his return from the Nationwide Tour Championship at Daniel Island, Charleston, South Carolina, Knox said:

"It's been a great year for me. I still can't believe that I have a 2012 US PGA Tour card.

"It's been a long year and I'm very glad it's over and now I can rest up a little."

Although he's known for some time that he was bound to finish in the top 25 of the Nationwide Tour, it's only now that Knox is letting his thoughts stray to ponder how his golfing life will change when he, ranked No 300 in the world,  mixes it with Luke Donald and Co  

"I will try to qualify for the Open. It would be a dream come true to play at Royal Lytham and also the Scottish Open. I tried to get an invitation to play in the Scottish Open this year at Castle Stuart because it's not all that far away from my family home but I was knocked back. Maybe that will change in 2012 when I will be on the US Tour."

Not particularly long off the tee - average drive 288.4yd this year compared with Martin Laird's 303yd - Knox does not miss many fairways. He was fourth in the Nationwide Tour stats for driving accuracy and eighth for hitting greens in regulation.

Straight hitting like that has been the secret of his success on the Hooters Tour and now the Nationwide Tour. It should stand him in good stead against the "Big Boys" of US pro golf next year.

"I have worked hard on all aspects of my game including the mental part. I feel that really has helped me to stay positive even when things have been  going badly.

"I have met Martin Laird once when I played in the Transitions Championship earlier this year in Tampa. We spoke for a few minutes and I look forward to getting to know him better next year. 

"I can't wait to play on the US PGA Tour. Can't wait to get paired with a big name and see how my game matches up. Should be fun."
It should certainly be fun for Knox if he can do even half as well as Martin Laird has done since his Nationwide Tour promotion. Laird finished 23rd on ths US Tour money table with £2,676,509.
+Sadly, as one Scot moves up from the Nationwide Tour to the US PGA Tour, another drops down. Aberdeen-born Michael Sim, reared in Australia from the age of seven and the No 1 world ranked amateur before he turned pro and finished No 1 in the Nationwide Tour in 2009, finished 235th in this year's US Tour's money list with earnings of only $47,403. He made only five cuts in 19 events. In 2010, Sim earned $1,338,926 and finished 45th on the US Tour money table. But he has been injury plagued over the past two or three years.