Russell Knox has selective memory when it comes to MC-filled 2020

LA QUINTA, Calif. – A short memory is crucial for professional golfers, but Russell Knox might be taking it a bit too far.

“I don’t remember that,” he said when asked about last season.

Although there was a pandemic wedged into the middle of it all, what Knox is keen to forget is that he went from early February to August without making a cut on the PGA Tour. It was a run of 10 events – not including The Players, which was canceled – without a paycheck.

He started to turn things around last fall with four top-25 finishes in his last seven events of 2020 and through three rounds at The American Express he’s on pace for his best finish since 2017.

As for that run of awful play last year, the Scot, like most Tour types, was quick to find the silver lining.

“It was a strange run, I mean, if I’m perfectly honest. I missed the cut at Pebble, where I shouldn’t have. I three-putted 17 at Riviera for par and then bogeyed 18 to miss the cut there,” he said. “And then I missed the cut at Honda. I hate Bay Hill, so I missed the cut there. It was just one of those kind of weird things where I really hadn’t played terrible golf.”

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Knox said last year’s struggles have prompted him to work harder, and he admits he can get lazy at times. That wasn’t the case this offseason, and following a third-round 64 he was tied for fifth place and two strokes off the lead at PGA West.