Jeff Knox’s wife said her husband was a little worried after being paired with two-time major champion Rory McIlroy in Saturday’s third round of the Masters Tournament.
“He said, ‘I can’t believe I’m playing with Rory McIlroy. I might be a little nervous,’” Catherine Knox recalled as her husband was finishing his round early Saturday afternoon.
Knox, 51, an Augusta amateur and Augusta National Golf Club member, is 27 years older than McIlroy.
The club’s designated noncompeting marker when there is an odd number of players after the cut (51 this year), ended up beating the world’s No. 9-ranked player, shooting 2-under-par 70 to McIlroy’s 71.
“He’s a great player,” McIlroy said.
Knox’s score doesn’t count. His job is threefold: He keeps the participant’s scorecard, gives him someone to play with and helps with pace of play (they played in 3 hours, 3 minutes) as the first group off the tee.
He’s probably not supposed to beat him.
“He played just like he should be playing in the Masters,” McIlroy said.
Knox is the club champion at Augusta National, where he has shot 61 from the members’ tees. He’s been called on to be the noncompeting marker since the 2002 Masters. Starting with the third round of the 2013 Masters, Knox has played with three consecutive major championship winners: Bubba Watson, Keegan Bradley and now McIlroy.
Knox, whose 70 was his lowest as the marker, had birdies on Nos. 2, 12, 13 and 15 to go with bogeys on Nos. 11 and 18.
McIlroy joked that there was one way Knox could have been more helpful.
“I thought he was going to be nice and three-putt the last, and we would have a halve, but he beat me by one,” said McIlroy, who closed with birdies on Nos. 15, 17 and 18.
Knox usually doesn’t have a true score as a marker because he picks up on a hole or two during the round. He played out every hole Saturday.
“I was so proud of him to be able to maintain this level of golf throughout the entire 18 holes,” said Catherine Knox, who followed her husband. “He never acted like he was nervous.”
