By John Huggan
It was the late, great Arnold Palmer who once said that the hardest thing in golf is making a birdie when you really need one. By that measure, the new Irish Open champion can feel pretty pleased with himself.

Make that doubly pleased.

Standing on the endlessly picturesque Ballyliffin’s 18th green 13-under par for the 71 holes he had already completed, Russell Knox was pretty certain he would need to hole from 35-feet to tie Ryan Fox in the group behind. When he did so, the 33-year old Scot was round in 66. Fox narrowly failed to make what would have been a winning birdie, and the two went to a playoff.

It lasted just one hole. After being outdriven by 60 yards, Knox found the green and almost exactly the same spot, 35-feet from the cup. Fox then pitched to maybe ten-feet, making him a strong favorite to clinch what would have been his maiden European Tour victory. Amazingly, however, it was Knox who holed again, before Fox’s tying effort cruelly horseshoed out.

“It is tough to describe how great this feels,” said Knox, who finished second in this event two years ago behind Rory McIlroy. “I can’t believe I’m holding this trophy. After I made eagle on the 4th I knew I was in it. I hadn’t missed shot. And the putts have been going in for me lately. I wasn’t even really aiming, just reacting to the greens.

“Making putts like those why I play golf. All the practice days, all the bad moments are taken care of with moments like that. On the first one, I told myself not to aim and I flushed it. And to make two from almost exactly the same spot, is such a bonus. I told my caddie, ‘I’ve already made this putt, it can’t be too difficult.’ And for it to go in, I guess it was my time.”

Slightly less happy with his lot was defending champion Jon Rahm. One week on from making a last day triple-bogey en route to finishing two shots behind French Open champion Alex Noren, the burly Spaniard repeated the feat in County Donegal. The triple arrived as early as the second hole, after which Rahm was on fire. Seven birdies and an eagle later, he was 12-under par for the week and, yes, two-shots short once again.

The last birdie is worthy of mention. Sixty meters short of the final green after a mighty drive on the 452 yarder, Rahm’s pitch—albeit one that would have run well past—struck the pin full-on and finished inches away. It was a suitably dramatic end to his down-and-up day.

One that belonged to Knox, who earned €998,425. Two years on from his controversial omission from the European Ryder Cup team at Hazeltine—he would have qualified as of right had he been a tour member at the time of his victory in the 2015 WGC HSBC Championship in China—the Inverness-born son of a Scottish mother and American father has hoisted himself into the frame for a second time. Which is not to say he is taking anything for granted. Still just outside the eight automatic qualifiers, he knows much work remains to be done if he is to tee-up in Paris, where he finished T-2 last week, come September.

“I needed a stretch like this if I am to make the Ryder Cup,” continued Knox, who was T-12 at the U.S Open last month. “You need to win tournaments to qualify. This is a start, but I have a bit to go yet. I’d like to win the Scottish Open next week too of course. I’m not greedy though. Right now i just want to enjoy this one.”

For the record, Spaniard Jorge Campillo was alone in third on 13-under par, what was his sixth top-five finish of the season. Rahm was next, tied with the 54-hole leader, Erik Van Rooyen of South Africa. And finally…by way of consolation Fox claimed one of the three Open Championship spots available to non-exempt players who finished in the top ten. The others went to Zander Lombard of South Africa and Englishman Andy Sullivan.

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The 28-year-old South African will take a four shot lead over big-hitting Kiwi Ryan Fox and Swede Joakim Lagergren into Sunday at Ballyliffin following a third round 66 to move to -14 for the Rolex Series event.

Van Rooyen has three top-10s since graduating from the Challenge Tour last season, including a runner-up finish at December’s Joburg Open which clinched a spot in the 147th Open Championship beginning Thursday week.

He’s in pole-position to make his main tour breakthrough but refuses to get ahead of himself. Fox, also chasing his first European Tour title, and recent Rocco Forte Sicilian Open winner Lagergren will do everything in their power to ensure that too.

“I would love to get a win but that’s 24 hours from now,” said van Rooyen who started Saturday in a share of the lead before pouring in six birides in an outward nine of 29 to streak away from the field. Nine straight pars coming home cemented his cushion.

“I’ve been in this position before, maybe not in a Rolex Series, but it’s golf. Go hit the ball, hit on the green and make the putt. We’ll do that tomorrow.”

Fox finished in a tie for fourth in the corresponding event at Portstewart last year to clinch a start in the Open and goes into Sunday again poised to punch his ticket to the final major of the year providing he can remain one of three players inside the top 10 who haven’t already qualified. As well as advancing to Carnoustie, the 31-year-old New Zealander is determined to kick-on from four-top 10s in his 11 Rolex Series starts thus far and has vowed to attack Ballyliffin Sunday to achieve just that.

“Don’t do anything different,” Fox said of his Sunday approach after a 70 on Saturday. “I’ve taken the golf course on the last three days and it seemed to work.

“It’s going to be very condition-dependent again but if we get a day like this, I’ll be doing what I did – hit driver everywhere and try to hit wedges in and see if I can hole some putts.

“I’ve been lucky, I guess we’ve taken the theory that bogeys aren’t a bad score. I’ve been driving the ball really well and made a couple of bogeys from bad tee-shots but given myself a lot of chances from good tee shots.

“It’s going to take birdies to win it. It’s going to require a decent round of golf and five or six under has been a tough score to get this week so I’ll be trying. We’ll see what happens, I’m not going to change the mindset.”

Lagergren fired a near flawless 69 in the third round but was frustrated not to make more of moving day with all three birdies coming on the front nine.

“I know I’ve got a low one in there,” he said.

Former Mastes champion Danny Willett, in a welcome return to form, starts the final round five back after recovering from an early double bogey on Saturday to sign for a 69. Scot Russell Knox is a further shot back.

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By Kent Gray
Last year’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open will take some beating and we’re not even factoring in Jon Rahm’s extraordinary golf, five birdies and two eagles in a closing 65 helping the Spaniard seal an historic six stroke victory.

Portstewart Golf Club provided a stunning canvas for the 2017 Rolex Series event but the Londonderry layout, even with one of the most spectacular outward nines in golf, is set to be upstaged by the venue for the 63rd edition of the European Tour event.

Ballyliffin is Ireland’s most northerly golf club and affords majestic views over Pollan Bay to Glashedy Island and the wild Atlantic beyond. The County Donegal club is home to two courses, the Old and Glashedy links, the latter set to host Rahm’s title defence.

Related: Dubai Duty Free Irish Open preview

Sculpted amid towering dunes by legendary Irish architect Pat Ruddy and opened in 1995, Glashedy has been described by DDF Irish Open host Rory McIlroy as “pure links” while Sir Nick Faldo, who made overtures to by the club, once rated it the “most natural links” he’d ever played. The par-3s are particularly memorable, two of them played out to sea and the 7th a downhill gem guarded by water. But those stunning vistas, McIlroy warns, come with a bite. “It’s one of the toughest links courses in the world. It’s really well designed, it’s a beautiful course and Donegal is just a beautiful area.”

Related: Dubai Duty Free “delighted” with star treatment

The July 5-8 DDF Irish Open is the second of three successive Rolex Series events leading into the 147th Open Championship at Carnoustie (July 19-22), sandwiched between the Open de France and the Scottish Open. It all promises a mouth-watering month for lovers of links golf.

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