Alex Noren maintained his two-shot lead as the final round of the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open got under way at Castle Stuart Golf Links.
A single birdie in his first four holes was enough to give the Swede some breathing room from South Africa's Justin Walters, with Tyrrell Hatton, Danny Lee, Matteo Manassero, Graeme McDowell and Andy Sullivan a further shot back.
Walters, Manassero, Hatton and Richie Ramsay - who was at nine under - were all on course to gain a spot at the Open Championship next week.
The locals were the first players within striking distance to make a real charge up the leaderboard as Ramsay and Knox tried to become the first Scottish winner of this event since Colin Montgomerie in 1999.
Ramsay made a run of four birdies from the third - the highlight being a stunning 45-foot putt on the fourth - to get to ten under, while a hat-trick of gains from the 11th moved Knox to eight under.
McDowell made a textbook birdie on the first to get to nine under and he was soon joined by Sullivan who took advantage of the third. Sullivan's playing partner Lee also birdied the third to join Ramsay, Hatton and Manassero at ten under.
That was soon three back, though, as Noren put his approach on the second to two feet and made a birdie to get to 13 under.
Walters then made his move with back-to-back birdies on the third and fourth to take second place all on his own.
Ramsay got in bunker trouble over the back of the seventh to drop a shot but Sullivan took his place in the group at ten under with a birdie on the fifth.
McDowell made a further gain on the sixth to also get into a share of third, with Knox moving to nine under alongside Callum Shinkwin, the Englishman making his fifth and sixth birdies of the day on the 16th and 17th.
Romain Wattel was then at eight under after six holes.
Phil Mickelson fired a 66 to hold a share of the clubhouse lead at seven under with Rafa Cabrera Bello, and the American was happy to get his game into links mode ahead of next week's Open Championship at Royal Troon.
"I love the golf course here and to come in with a good final round feels good," he said. "It certainly feels better after today's round where I had a good score. But it also helped me identify some areas where I need to work on for next week.
It feels like there's a little bit of momentum heading into next week. I always love playing here. Castle Stuart is one of my favourite golf courses anywhere - Phil Mickelson
"I've just always accepted and relished that it's part of the Open Championship. I prefer that we play in that because it seems like that's what the history of the tournament is known for."
