We could be seeing more of Russell Knox in Europe now. Here’s why…

Russell Knox has said he would be willing to alter his schedule in the lead up to the Ryder Cup to give himself the best possible opportunity of qualifying for the team at Le Golf National.

Following his win at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open last week, Knox rocketed up to eighth in the European Points list and 12th on the World Points list, putting him in contention for a place in the 2018 team for the first time.

Knox, of course, was in contention for Hazeltine with those in favour of the 33-year-old being overlooked for a captain’s pick by Darren Clarke arguing that the Scot didn’t put himself in the shop window enough by committing to play more golf in Europe in the build-up.

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That could change this time around, though.

“It might [alter my schedule] to be perfectly honest,” said Knox ahead of the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open. “Especially now where my FedEx Cup ranking (71st) is compared to my Race to Dubai ranking (fifth) as finishing super high in the Race to Dubai opens a lot of doors for next year.”

Knox is now firmly in the thoughts of Thomas Bjorn, too, with the Dane reaching out to him after tasting glory at Ballyliffin – but he’s determined not to get carried away.

“I just bumped into him,” he added. “He was like, ‘Welcome to the conversation, as such’. So that’s been good. He knows. He has a hard job but he’s rooting for all of us. I would love to be one of those 12 players, so we’ll see what happens.

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“It’s a reward to make the Ryder Cup team. My goal is to try and win this week, to try and win The Open, to try and win every event I’m playing in, and then the Ryder Cup is ultimately a reward of good play.”

Knox tees off in the Scottish Open at Gullane at 1.40pm tomorrow alongside Patrick Reed and Ian Poulter.