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NEW YORK -- A top European Tour official waited patiently as Russell Knox wrapped up his duties from winning a World Golf Championship. Anthony Morrow Thunder Jersey . He wanted to introduce himself to Knox and share details on how to become a tour member.Ten months later, Knox had reason to feel like an outcast.The 31-year-old Scot easily would have qualified for the Ryder Cup if he had been a European Tour member when he won the HSBC Champions last November. Even without those valuable points, Knox had all the credentials to be at Hazeltine.He has two PGA Tour victories this season. He was runner-up to Rory McIlroy at the Irish Open, to Branden Grace at Hilton Head and he lost in a playoff to Graeme McDowell in Mexico last fall. Knox was No. 4 when the FedEx Cup playoffs began, one spot ahead of Jordan Spieth. He is No. 20 in the world, the sixth-highest ranked European.That wasnt enough for European captain Darren Clarke to take him to the Ryder Cup.Clarke used his three picks Tuesday on the Ryder Cup experience of Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer, and the raw talent and recent form of Thomas Pieters. He said the phone call to Knox on Monday was probably one of the toughest of his career.But not the longest.We spoke for 20 seconds, Knox said. It was obvious by the way he said, `Hello that it was bad news. I didnt ask any questions. I wasnt going to ask who he picked or why not me. After the bad news, it was get off the phone as quick as possible.The disappointment in Knoxs voice was evident, even though part of him had a hunch this was coming. He felt as though he deserved to be on the team because of his performance. He also knows that a captain can choose whomever he wants, and I gave him that choice by not making the team outright.Think back to his victory at the Travelers Championship at the start of the month, when Knox holed a 12-foot par putt on the 18th hole and threw his cap across the green in celebration. Much of that emotion was that Knox felt certain he had done enough to lock up his spot in the Ryder Cup.Sadly, it wasnt, he said.He said Clarke and assistant captain Ian Poulter encouraged him to play the Wyndham Championship, his final chance to earn points. Knox declined. He would have needed a fourth-place finish, and to play the Wyndham would have meant playing seven times in nine weeks going to the Ryder Cup and I probably would have been burned out by the time I got to Hazeltine.Did that hurt his chances? Probably.Pieters made his case by shooting 62 in Denmark while playing with Clarke -- it was no accident they were paired together -- and going on to win the tournament. Knox was impressed with what Pieters did in Denmark, and who Pieters is as a player. He had no complaints with the Belgian being picked.Even so, Knox was left to wonder how much he was seriously considered.Knox was born and raised in Scotland. He claims Florida as home from having lived there since college.He has never felt European.Clarke hinted at Knox being an outsider when he said Tuesday the Ryder Cup is about more than just playing. Its about the team room and the dynamics and everything thats involved in it, he said.Knox was hard-pressed to think of another European Ryder Cup player whose golfing roots are in America. He said he barely knows Clarke or the assistants. That includes Poulter, even though theyve had the same agent for years.Ultimately, I had that going against me, Knox said. I dont even know Paul Lawrie. Sam Torrance seems like a legend -- I dont know him. I played with Thomas Bjorn once, and we didnt speak one word. I dont have relationships with anyone. Im not really close to anyone on the team.If I would have been picked, it could have been 100 percent different.While saying he was disappointed, Knox also acknowledged it was time to move on. He changed the screen saver on his phone Tuesday to show the FedEx Cup, which he said he will look at for motivation. He would love to win one of these next three playoff events to show Clarke what he is missing.He respects the choices the captain has to make.Someone always gets left behind. Making an argument for one player is to devalue the merits of another.I might be a story today, Knox said. But in a couple of weeks time, nobody is going to remember -- except for a couple of Scottish people -- that I didnt get picked. Kyle Singler Thunder Jersey . Catch all the action on TSN2 at 11pm et/8pm pt. The nine-time Big 12 champion Jayhawks are positioning themselves for another title, as they have run out to a flawless 6-0 mark in conference play thus far. Victor Oladipo Jersey . - Goaltender Philippe Desrosiers of the Rimouski Oceanic has broken a shutout record that was only three months old in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. http://www.authenticthunderauthority.com/detlef-schrempf-thunder-jersey-c-9/ . - NASCAR announced a 33-race schedule for the 2014 Nationwide Series with virtually no changes from this years slate. CHICAGO -- A single sheet of paper sat on Willson Contreras chair in front of his locker when the Chicago Cubs rookie showed up for practice on Friday. It was a form letter asking players to list the names of people picking up the four tickets set aside for family members ahead of the NL Championship Series opener.Someone asked Contreras who would be picking up his.Nobody, the 24-year-old catcher said, trying to force a grin.Behind that rueful smile is a long story. Baseball provided Contreras a path out of the tough times back home in Venezuela and swept him to the top of the major leagues. But even that lofty position hasnt enabled him yet to get his parents, Olga and William, a visa to follow him to the United States. Their application for a temporary visa to watch him during the playoffs wasnt successful, either.Everybodys back home, Contreras confirmed. Its hard to get them here at this time of the year.They will be watching on TV from a new home he bought them, in a neighborhood with security guards. It was there that they saw their older son drive a tying single up the middle in Chicagos opening-round clinching win against the Giants.Contreras even has food delivered to their home, so his parents dont have to venture out to the grocery store, where long lines await. But fears about their safety never slip his mind for long.Hopefully, Conteras added a moment later, next year, theyll be here.Wait until next year has been the Cubs unofficial motto for a century and counting. Yet it carries just as much longing for the young Venezuelan as the most grizzled denizen of the citys North Side. Contreras made it to these shores a half-dozen years ago, followed soon after by younger brother, William, who is playing in the Braves organization. The boys never forget on whose shoulders they stood, making that huge step possible.At this time last year, Contreras was playing Double-A ball in Tennessee and he paused to carve Ernesto into the dirt before each at-bat, honoring the grandfather whod died back home barely two months earlier. This fall, he worries about his parents safety in a cash-strapped country where kidnapping the relatives of a famous baseball player is viewed as a lucrative business.In 2011, kidnappers there grabbbed Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos and held him for ransom; fortunately, Ramos was eventually rescued. Gary Payton Jersey. We dont talk about it that much, but we know what each other is going through, said Albert Almora Jr., another rookie whose locker is close by. Sometime, after a game, you can come here and see certain guys text messaging and you know theyre talking to family -- Willson, with his folks, in my case, its my dad. Hes fighting prostate cancer. ... So we make it a point to check in with each other every so often.Cubs manager Joe Maddon knew Contreras situation when the team called him up from Triple-A at midseason. As if learning to call games for a veteran and sometimes-finicky staff and bullpen wasnt hard enough, the manager had planned to pile more on his plate. Maddon wanted the one-time infielder to try his hand at first base and the outfield as well as behind the plate.Contreras rewarded Maddons faith by homering in his first big-league at-bat. His teammates made him feel right at home by shooing him out of the dugout soon after, reminding Contreras he still had to warm-up the relievers back in the bullpen. But hes made a good argument for deserving a regular spot in the lineup by hitting no matter which glove he was wearing. But just as impressive, Maddon says, is Contreras ability to compartmentalize all those jobs while still keeping one eye on his family a continent away.As a parent and as a manger, if my kids arent having a good day, then Im not. But when your family is down there, its hard to stay right here, Maddon recalled recently.Having his fiancee here has brought a bit of home along with him. So has finding a handful of seafood restaurants and long walks along Lake Michigan, which is as close to the beach near Contreras home in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, as hes likely to find for the moment.It will have to do.Im able to separate my personal situation from the game and I know that everybody back home is OK, Contreras said finally. So Ill be fine.---Jim Litke is a sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke(at)ap.org and https://Twitter.com/JimLitke Cheap NFL JerseysCheap NFL Jerseys ChinaCheap Jerseys From ChinaCheap NFL Jerseys AuthenticWholesale Jerseys ChinaCheap NFL Jerseys ChinaNFL Cheap Jerseys' ' '
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