Masters debut leaves Russell Knox “shell-shocked”
Russell Knox said he was “shell-shocked” after marking his Masters debut with a disappointing seven-over-par 79.
The 30-year-old reckoned he’d played well enough in the tricky first-day conditions to have been as many as 10 shots better.
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Hide Ad“No,” replied Knox to being asked if it had been a tough first day at the office for him at Augusta National. “I’m a little shell-shocked because I could easily have been a few under today.
“I hardly missed a shot on the front nine and it was only down to three-putting from nowhere a couple of times that I turned in one-over.
“I was playing lovely and just missed a birdie at 10 before hitting a bad tee shot at 11 - that was my first bad shot of the day - but I took my punishment by chipping out.
“My ball was hit by a horrible gust at the 12th, found a bunker where I misjudged the lie then three-putted from nowhere for a double-bogey.
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Hide Ad“I then hit two great shots on to the 13th, a great shot at 14th, a nice drive at the 15th then a nice chip at 16.
“I don’t think I could actually have played much better up until that point but just hadn’t taken my chances.”
A costly final two holes - he bogeyed the 17th then ran up a triple-bogey 7 at the last - meant it definitely wasn’t the debut he’d been looking for.
At the 18th, having been in trouble off the tee and having to chip out, the Inverness man then found a greenside bunker, from where he thinned it into the crowd on the other side of the green.
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Hide Ad“I rushed my third shot, which was disappointing,” said Knox. “I was on the downslope in the bunker and had no shot really before playing a nice little chip from the other side of the green only to see the putt lip out.
“I feel I could have shot three or four-under quite easily. I could have played 100 times worse and beaten that score.
“It was tricky out there but I honestly don’t think that score was down to a lack of knowledge.
“After 12 holes, I was amazed I was three-over-par. Indeed, I felt I did pretty good until the last hole.”