WILY FOX EYES UP GOLF’S BIGGEST PRIZES

A sensational 2022 season on the DP World Tour has seen Ryan Fox move firmly into the world’s top 50 and ready to play in his first Masters. We find out what the 36-year-old New Zealander puts his late bloom down to and how he thinks he’ll fare on the world’s biggest stages

Anyone who has shown a passing interest in the final leaderboards on the DP World Tour of late can’t have failed to notice how often the name ‘Ryan Fox’ pops up on or near the top of the pile come Sunday afternoon.

The 36-year-old New Zealander, the son of All Blacks rugby legend Grant Fox, has been an impressively consistent performer on the European circuit since he joined the tour full-time in 2017, but he has really took it up several gears over the last 12 months, with his Race to Dubai ranking rising from 82nd in 2021 to the point where only Rory McIlroy’s victory in the DP World Tour Championship stood between him and topping the ranking for 2022.

His meteoric rise came on the back of two wins – the Ras Al Khaimah Classic in February and the Alfred Dunhill Links in September – four runnerup finishes (Dutch Open, Irish Open, Nedbank Golf Challenge, Soudal Open), and four other top-10s, all of which added up to a prize fund haul of €3.36m in 2022.

It’s the measure of Fox’s fortunes, and his popularity among his peers, that he capped 2022 by being voted DP World Tour Player of the Year. Voted for by the players, Fox polled 50% of the votes, leaving McIlroy and US Open Champion Matt Fitzpatrick in his wake. Being the first Kiwi to win the Seve Ballesteros Award since Michael Campbell received the honour in 2005 also meant a lot to Fox, given the inspiration that the 2005 US Open champion has been to a generation of golfers from New Zealand, while to be given award in Seve’s name, was also beyond comprehension.

“It’s probably not something that I ever expected to win in my career,” he admits. “I would like to say it’s something I dreamed of, but if you look at the names on the trophy and I probably don’t count myself as in that league. Seve is such an icon of golf. I knew what he achieved in the game, but growing up in New Zealand, I didn’t fully understand or appreciate the influence he had in Europe, but to have my name on the Seve Ballesteros Award is a bit surreal, but it’s pretty cool to be a small part of golfing history.”

WHAT’S IN FOX’S BAG?

DRIVER:

Srixon ZX5 Mk II, (9.5°)

FAIRWAY

WOOD:

Srixon ZX5 Mk II

3-wood (14°)

UTILITY:

Srixon Z U85 (20°)

IRONS: Srixon ZX7 Mk II (4-PW)

WEDGES: Cleveland RTX ZipCore, (50°, 56°, 60°)

PUTTER: Fine Tuned Prototype

BALL: Srixon Z-Star XV.

While it’s hard to drag yourself up the world rankings solely on the back of European performances these days, Fox’s points haul was enough to rocket from 211th in February 2022 to his current position at 29th, down slightly from a career high 24th in October following a runner-up finish at the Nedbank in South Africa.

Ask the man in question where his sudden flurry of form has come from, and he is at pains to find a definitive answer. “It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what clicked last year, because my game didn’t feel a whole lot different than previous seasons,” Fox admits. “But for the most part, my putting has been really good, and that was probably my Achilles heel during my first few years on tour. I knew if I could just putt OK, I would be able to contend more and that has proved the case.”

With the stats bearing out his improvement with the putter in hand, ranking 14th in ‘Putts Per Greens in Regulation’ among his DP World Tour peers, Fox is also no slouch off the tee either, with the Kiwi averaging 317 yards with his driver in 2022, while his stroke average was an impressive 69.85, well under the tour average of 71.14. This season has already yielded some impressive returns, with his first four events resulting in three top-20 finishes and no missed cuts.

With a high ranking comes invitations to play in golf’s biggest tournaments, starting with a longawaited debut in next month’s Masters, as well as automatic spots in the three others majors providing he can maintain his position inside the world’s top 50. Unfortunately, he missed out on securing a coveted PGA Tour card for this season despite finishing second in the DP World Tour rankings, as the top-10 players in the standings won’t earn spots under the new ‘strategic alliance’ until next year. But thanks to his incredible leap in the world rankings, Fox now holds enough status to qualify for several PGA Tour events on top of the majors –including The Players Championship and Arnold Palmer Invitational – a position which gives him everything to gain and nothing to lose following his breakout season. Not bad for a self-proclaimed journeyman who didn’t turn professional until he was 25.

Fox, who grew up in Auckland, but now lives in London, says: “With how I played this year, I feel like I can definitely compete with the best players in the world, but majors are a different kettle of fish. I’ve always heard Augusta is a pretty tough course to go to first time around, so I’m not expecting fireworks, but just to be there and experience it, and be a part of the major history, is going to be really cool.”

Speaking about the draw of the big dollars on offer in the States, he adds: “If you’d have asked me two years ago, I would say I was more than happy playing in Europe. Although the dream was always to play on the PGA Tour, I thought that dream had passed. But you look at it all now, and it’s all within touching distance. It’s going to be a cool year. I can get some experience playing the tournaments that I grew up watching like Bay Hill and The Players. If it works great, if it doesn’t then I’ve got a second chance.

“I’d love to get a card and do it the way it’s been done the last few years – get in the top 50, get in the majors, get in some of the bigger PGA Tour events, then play well enough to play my way on. That would be the ideal scenario. So that’s the goal this year.”

The fox, as they say, is on the loose.