Fox on run with first, second placings

Ryan Fox is very much his own man.

Any mention of the young Aucklander and you can practically guarantee that his being the son of former All Blacks goal-kicking whiz Grant Fox will be raised.

But while it obviously helps to have sporting genes, Ryan Fox is taking the limelight in an extremely different sport ... professional golf.

And he's not doing too badly, either, judging by his second placing in last weekend's Masterton Eketahuna pro-am and his runaway win in Tuesday's Jimmy Napier Class pro-am at Martinborough.

A gusty and at times strong nor'wester tested the Martinborough field but not Fox, whose seven-under par round of 65 included one eagle and eight birdies. It could have been better, though, had he not posted three bogeys.

The manner in which Fox, the country's top-ranked amateur before he turned pro, attacked the course spoke volumes about his confidence. His start couldn't have been better, with an eagle on the short par 5 first hole being followed by a birdie on the second, another par 5.

The third was bogeyed but that was hardly surprising as it was played directly into the wind and most of the field suffered that fate, or worse, but then came seven more birdies interspersed with a couple of bogeys, one at the ninth when Fox hit his tee shot into the trees and the other at the testing par 3 12th hole.

Three shots behind Fox on 68 were five players, Troy Ropiha (Taupo), Pieter Zwart (Waipukurau), Jared Pender (Tauranga), Gareth Paddison (Wellington) and Jim Cusdin (Hamilton). Ropiha, in particular, had a bad-luck story to tell. He found the ditch on the par 3 eighth hole - which was his last for the day - and after taking a penalty drop - came up with a double bogey.

Leading scores were: 65, Ryan Fox (Auckland); 68, Troy Ropiha (Taupo), Pieter Zwart (Waipukurau), Jared Pender (Tauranga), Jim Cusdin (Hamilton), Gareth Paddison (Wellington); 69, Grant Moorhead (Taranaki), Mark Purser (Hamilton), Marcus Wheelhouse (Auckland), Nick Gillespie (Wellington), Mark Brown (Wellington); 70, Dominic Barson (Taranaki), Jonathan Dittmer (Wellington); 71, Andrew Gurney (Omanu), Douglas Holloway (Hastings), Leighton James (Hastings), Shaun Hewitt (Masterton), Thomas Lennie (Peninsula), Joonsang Chung (Auckland), James Hamilton (Omanu).