Fox fires on a fine-margin weekend

Golf's everyman enlivens a Monday morning, PLUS: Another four-wheeled star hits the heights, the Warriors keep defying logic and the Big Four loses a man.

Chip and run all the way to the bank. Getty Images

If you left it up to the player, they’d no doubt want to mark their first PGA Tour win with a tap-in birdie at the last to crown a stress-free, wire-to-wire eight-shot victory.

Bit boring though, eh?

Especially when you can instead rescue a seemingly hopeless position on the first playoff hole by chipping in from just off the green — a shot so improbable it left one of your opponents smirking as he contemplated a birdie putt he now needed to make just to stay in the hunt. Harry Higgs did not make that putt; neither did Mackenzie Hughes from about 10 feet (or 3m for the hardcore metric-system insisters).

When Hughes slid his putt past, as he did from a similar distance in regulation, Fox’s career changed in a heartbeat. The move from the DP World Tour to the PGA had not been a disaster, but nor had it been a screaming success.

In fact, it looked a little like this…

Now, it looks like this…

Much sexier really, and that’s before you throw in entry to this week’s PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, the second major on the calendar, a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour, US$720,000 and a set of steak knives.

And yes, there was a rather large caveat in that the bulk of the tour’s best players were either resting up ahead of the PGA Championship, or playing in the Truist Championship at the curiously named Philadelphia Cricket Club, but the trophy and the benefits it brings doesn’t come with an asterisk or fine print.

Fox has the kind of everyman appeal that makes you want him to do well. He looks all of his 38 years, appears to prefer red meat to green tea, addresses the ball like a club cricketer hellbent on boofing the spinner back over his head and, most important of all, plays fast.

He looked pretty average in the blazer that was thrown on him in victory and, given that I’m not sure it’s possible to ever fully trust a man who looks good in a blazer, I also found that strangely comforting. To cap off the sense that he’s just one of us at heart, he admitted he’ll be driving the three hours from Myrtle Beach to Quail Hollow with a hangover. Be careful please, Ryan.

The NZ Herald helpfully informed me that he is the ninth New Zealander to win on the PGA Tour and at least half of the other eight would make decent trivia questions.

Only Bob Charles (6) has won more than one PGA title. Fox has at least a couple more years to become a multiple winner.

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Ryan Fox reflects on maiden PGA Tour win (NZ Herald)

“To be honest, I kind of struggled to watch it to start with,” Fox told Newstalk ZB of his opponents’ attempts.

“You’re not wishing someone to do badly, but on the other hand, I’ve had a couple go the other way… people holing long putts on me to either win or carry on a playoff.

“So I kind of was just wishing for a bit of luck in that respect for something to go my way and Mac’s one of the better putters on the PGA Tour, I think statistically he’s up there most years and I was definitely expecting him to give it a real good chance.

“I was obviously very chuffed to see it slide by.”

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Ryan Fox chips in for birdie in playoff to win Myrtle Beach Classic, secure PGA Championship spot (PGATour.com)

The 38-year-old Fox had won three times on the DP World Tour, including the flagship BMW PGA Championship in 2023, and has climbed as high as No 23 in the world. But he had yet to record a top 10 on the PGA Tour this year.

“Very rewarding,” Fox said. “I haven’t transitioned probably as well as I would have liked over to the PGA Tour. It was a tough year last year. I managed to just keep my card. It’s been a scratchy start this year as well. I always deep down felt like I could compete with the guys out here. Just haven’t been able to put it together.”