Adam McKendry reports from Ballyliffin
RUSSELL KNOX IS the 2018 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open champion after he defeated Ryan Fox in a sudden-death playoff at Ballyliffin.
In a stunning, edge of the seat finish, Knox holed a 25-foot putt on the 72nd hole to finish at 14-under and put himself into the play-off before then draining an almost identical putt in the play-off to win it.
Fox failed to convert chances from within 10 feet on the 17th and 18th to win it outright, before then missing another on the play-off hole to keep it going, but he will settle for second place and a spot at Carnoustie in the Open.
It’s the Scotsman’s first win since the 2016 Travelers Championship and it will give him a massive lift in both the world rankings — where he is currently 87th — and in the Ryder Cup standings too.
Overnight leader Erik van Rooyen fell apart, throwing away his four-shot lead in the final four holes of the front nine, and he never really recovered, finishing in a tie for fourth on 12-under.
Defending champion Jon Rahm could have won it as well as a triple bogey on the second was all that stood between him and back-to-back wins as he also finished 12-under.
The best round of the day went to Spaniard Jorge Campillo, who shot a seven-under 65 to finish in solo third, while South Africa’s Zander Lombard and England’s Andy Sullivan took the other two Open spots on offer.
None of the local players were ever in contention, and indeed only two finished under par in Shane Lowry (-2) and Rory McIlroy (-1), with Graeme McDowell and Paul Dunne level, and Simon Thornton at +2.
But the day of course belongs to Knox, who in many ways sailed under the radar right until the end as others made moves around him.
He kicked off his day with three pars before an eagle at the par-five fourth got him going, and he added a birdie on the sixth to make the turn three-under for the day as overnight leader Van Rooyen collapsed.
The South African birdied the fourth, but he bogeyed the sixth with a three-putt before adding bogeys on the seventh and ninth after a wild drive to head onto the back nine in a tie for the lead.
For a long time it was Fox who led, the New Zealander rattling off three consecutive birdies at the 11th, 12th and 13th before a bogey at the 14th derailed his momentum.
Campillo set the clubhouse lead at 13-under, before first Knox beat it by birdieing the 15th and raking home that mammoth putt on the 18th, and a birdie at the 17th saw Fox alongside him, although he was inches from winning it with his birdie putt on the last.
Van Rooyen, meanwhile, added just one bogey and a birdie on the back nine as he failed to close the gap, and once his second shot into the last didn’t drop, the playoff pairing was confirmed.
Back up the 18th they went and, after finding an almost identical spot on the green, history was to repeat itself for Knox as he slammed in the birdie putt, and when Fox’s cruelly horseshoed out, the Scot was free to take the adoring cheers of the crowd.
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Great save by Kelleher near the end. Comfortable afternoon for him
Top player.
Super performance and result albeit against a woeful Watford. Unlikely to be a worse performance by any PL team this season. Salah is unbelievable and his goal was magical, give him the contract his performances and goals deserve. Great to see Firmino scoring. Though Kelleher had nothing to do he kept his concentration to make a very good save at the end. Gonna be a tight title race. Surprised Salah and Mane played the 90 minutes, Minamino could have done with game time especially against that Watford team.
Mo Salah is WOW!!! a pleasure to watch him…..Firmino not bad either : )
Time to sack Ranieri…….
@John S: dilly ding dilly dong
@Heckler davies: dilly ding, dilly gone
Class win and 3 more handy points. We will be hard to stop This season as we put last seasons blip behind us
Danny Rose will sleep tonight. Great performance against an albeit poor side!!
Give Mo all the money. Almost 0% chance of being able to replace him
Lewandowski and Salah are the best players in the world on current form.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a PL side as bad as that Watford side today….if they lost 10-0 it wouldn’t have been a surprise! Woeful…
@Ottomaaan: you forgot to mention that they were up against a solid side with a rampant front three, there, I fixed it for you…. :)
@Gordon Larney: no need to fix anything. That was the worst performance I’ve ever seen from a PL side, dreadful stuff and Liverpool could have put 10 past them.
@Ottomaaan: have to agree. I was at the game and never seen such a bad performance from a PL team.
Salah in great form. But how long canhe hold that form? He has 20-25 goals in him a season, but he’s up and down. If he held this form, he’d be close to 40 goals?
Bigger tests against Athletico and United on the way.
@Finn Faulkner: did you like your own comment…
@Finn Faulkner: how long can he do that. ? He has been doing it for the last 4 seasons. 104 goals in 166 games in the Premier league but you think he should score more. Okay so
@Finn Faulkner: you’re gonna need bigger bait on that hook ….
@WESHALLNOTBEMOVED: But by that metric 4 seasons at 40 goals would be 160 goals. He hasn t done that. But my point is that if he can keep that killer hat on his head for a prolonged period, and with our squad almost injury free, he could break records for us. I’m HOPING he keeps this lethal form indefinitely. He still can’t be put in the Messi/Ronaldo category until he starts being seriously clinical. I’d love to see him win the Balloon d’Or this year (or the next)
@len len: No, but seeing as you need likes, here, have mine. Have a lovely day.
@WESHALLNOTBEMOVED: you included his Chelsea stats there, it’s 102 in 153 for Liverpool
@Shane Roche: It’s still an amazing number of goals per season, but I think he can go even further, he needs to keep this current form. Biggest tests are against Athletico and then United.
That salah. Goal was pure roy of the rovers.. Pure art.. He must be a great dancer..
As good as Liverpool are, and they are really good. This in my opinion is all about Klopp.