Hilton Head Island, SC – Scotland's Russell Knox unknowingly began the final round of the eGolf Tour's Palmetto Hall Championship in a tie for the lead with Canada's Matt McQuillan following rounds of 73-68-69—210. By the time he reached the tee of the watery par-3 16th, he was fully aware of his status atop the leaderboard. A mere three holes later, he solidified victory and claimed the largest check of his professional career.

Knox, who grew up in Scotland but attended Jacksonville (FL) University on a golf scholarship, began Saturday's final round in his third-round pairing after frost delays earlier in the week forced tour officials to keep the same groupings for the final 36 holes. While McQuillan and others would feel the pressure of competing in the day's final pairings, Knox was granted the advantage of flying under the proverbial radar.

"I had no idea until I made the turn in the final round that I was tied for the lead," said Knox. "I made a double-bogey on my last hole of the third round, so I thought I would be three or four shots back."

Playing three groups ahead of the final pairing, Knox got off to a slow-and-steady start with a birdie and six pars on his first seven holes. Standing on the tee of the par-3 eighth at the Palmetto Hall Golf Club's Robert Cupp course, Knox was at 7-under for the tournament when disaster struck. A double-bogey at No. 8 would quickly be compounded by a bogey at the difficult par-4 ninth, and all of a sudden Knox was looking in from outside the glass.

"I tried to play terrible golf on the end of the front nine," Knox quipped. "And I did just that."

While Knox was trending in the wrong direction, McQuillan was trending in the right. The Canadian turned at 1-under 35 and added yet another birdie at the par-4 11th to reach 8-under on the event before his own version of Knox's disaster would strike.

Matt CannonA double-bogey at the lengthy par-3 12th sent McQuillan backwards while Knox was making his final nine comeback. Birdies at Nos. 11, 13, 14 and 15 took the Scot from the depths of despair to the top of the scoreboard as he reached 8-under for the tournament and the tee of the aforementioned par-3 16th.

"I found out I was leading on 16 tee, and then I obviously hit it left in the bunker," Knox said jokingly, referring to the pond that guards the entire right side of the hole. "The bunker shot was not easy, but I hit it to 10 feet and holed it for par. After that, I thought ‘Maybe, just maybe.'"

After the timely par on No. 16, Knox managed to record pars at the final two holes for a round of 2-under 70, and was then forced to wait for nearly an hour while McQuillan tried to catch him. A bogey at the 16th put the title out of reach for McQuillan, who would go on to triple-bogey the closing hole to fall back into a tie for 10th.

Knox had claimed the title.

For Knox, the victory was his second pro title in the last six months and marked the largest paycheck of his pro career: $34,306.

"It's perfect. I had been playing well and it was nice to come out here. I played great this week and the whole tournament was run very professionally," said Knox, who notched honorable mention "All America" honors in 2006.

The win is yet another boost for Knox after he captured medalist honors at the first stage of PGA TOUR Q-School last fall. Soft spoken and not one to assume, he felt that week gave him a bit of confidence moving forward.

"Obviously, the goal is to play on the PGA or Nationwide Tour, but that was when I started to realize that I can do this, which was nice," said Knox, who failed to advance past second stage. "But, I'm only 24 and I've got plenty of time. I think I've finally realized that."

David SanchezFinishing three shots behind Knox in a tie for second were Matt Cannon of Statesville, NC and David Sanchez of Pinehurst, NC.

Cannon, the tour's all-time leading money winner and title holder, is back to playing full time after spending the majority of 2009 as a contractor. In just his second eGolf Tour event since the fall of 2008, the former Old Dominion University golfer carded rounds of 69-76-70-68—283 to notch $16,090 in earnings.

Sanchez was the tour's leading money winner in 2005 and has been a stalwart since a standout career at N.C. State. At 3-under on his final round through 12 holes, Sanchez had a golden opportunity to put some pressure on the leaders, but could only muster pars on his closing six holes.

This marks the second consecutive year that Sanchez has recorded a T2 finish in the tour's season-opening event. At the 2009 FairwayStyles.com Open, he fell four shots shy of eventual winner Kyle Dobbs.

Longtime PGA TOUR player Joe Daley of Scottsdale, AZ finished solo fourth in his eGolf Tour debut and collected $11,135 for his efforts.

Five players finished in a tie for fifth at 3-under 285, including local favorites Brian Harman of Savannah, GA and Chris Epperson of Hilton Head Island, SC.

The likely victor this week was Palmetto Hall Plantation and the two arduous tracks that make up the stellar resort: The Robert Cupp and Arthur Hills courses. A testimony to their difficulty would be the fact that not a single player in the field managed to card four rounds under par. At week's end, the two courses combined to yield 455 scores of double-bogey or worse from the 201-player field.

The tour would like to thank General Manager & Director of Golf Claude Thorn, Director of Revenue Lisa Dahlstrom and Tournament Sales Director Ryan Thompson for all of their efforts in making this first-year event such a success. The biggest star of the week was arguably Golf Course Superintendent David Moyer and his staff for producing two immaculate venues on both the Cupp and Hills courses. Last but certainly not least, the tour would like to thank the members of Palmetto Hall Plantation for allowing the tour access to the course this week, and for their tireless efforts in volunteering.

The tour moves down I-95 next week to the greater Savannah, GA area for the Savannah Quarters Classic on February 24-27. The tournament is expected to feature a full field of 204 players and will be conducted at both Savannah Quarters Country Club and The Club at Savannah Harbor.