December 03-06
El Camaleon Golf Club, Playa del Carmen, Mexico
$7,200,000
Round 2, Round 3, Round 4

Russell Knox birdied five of his last six holes on his front nine and played the back nine in 1-under in spite of a bogey for a 6-under 65 on a wet and windy Thursday to take the lead of the Mayakoba Golf Classic presented by UNIFIN.

“Took me a few holes to kind of settle into my round, but when I did, I had six or seven very good holes. I hit the ball well, drove it in the fairway, and with lift, clean and place, I could be fairly aggressive. Par was good today.”

"Obviously, I love the course. It sets up well for me. I mean, historically, my driving accuracy and iron play's been my strength, so that's kind of the key things that this course brings out in you.”

“I always kind of want it to be a little windy. I feel like I can flight my ball well at times. But it's so soft out here, it's the opposite of like links golf. No, I'm thrilled with that and look forward to trying again tomorrow.”

One stroke back are Chile's Joaquin Niemann, Argentina's Emiliano Grillo and American Tom Hoge.

“It was tough,” said Niemann. “It was hard to adjust myself into the wind early, but I'm really happy the way I played. Took me a couple holes to like figure it out a little bit with the wind. I'm really happy the way I played and the way I finished.”

Niemann, whose 2-month old cousin is battling a rare neuromuscular disease and requires expensive treatment (a single injection costs over $2 million) will be donating his entire prize money this week, as he did after the RSM Classic, as well as $5,000 for every birdie and $10,000 for an eagle.

“I'm playing for Rafita. It's always extra motivation trying to play for him and get some more money for him."

"All the guys here on tour are being really nice, using the little ribbons we're having to support Rafita. He's fighting now in Chile, so we've got to work our way to help him.”

Local favourite Carlos Ortiz, winner of the Vivint Houston Open, was two strokes back at 67.

“When I made like a 60-footer for eagle on 5, I knew it was going to be a pretty good day. I was in control of my game. It's one of those where you hit a good drive, it kind of sits down in the fairway and you feel like you're going to get a flyer and it's going to come out soft, but I'm really happy the way I played.”

Rickie Fowler's round was a rollercoaster. He fired eight birdies as well as a bogey, a double bogey and a quadruple bogey at the 12th to finish his round at 1-under 70.

“There's a lot of trouble around the golf course on both sides. It's not like you ever have a side that you can favor; there's trouble on both sides pretty much every hole.”

“This has to be the lowest I've shot with a quad. That doesn't happen a whole lot. I'm definitely happy with what we were able to do and salvage what could have been a really bad day”