For the first time this year, two New Zealanders will compete in a men's golf major with Ryan Fox and Daniel Hillier on the tee for the first round of the 149th Open Championship at Royal St George's in Kent.
New Zealand number one Fox is competing at his 11th major and fifth Open Championship, with his best result a tie for 16th at Portrush the last time the Open was held in 2019. Hillier, 22, is playing in his second major after winning a qualifying tournament in Nottinghamshire earlier this month. He missed the cut after qualifying for the 2019 US Open as an amateur.
However, it's the young Wellingtonian who heads into the tournament with confidence after upstaging Fox and Americans Daniel Berger (World No 16) and Ryder Cup stalwart Rickie Fowler in an 18-hole practice round.
The Americans challenged Fox and Hillier to match play on the back nine with $100 a hole up for grabs. Hillier birdied seven holes to take the spoils and Fox says it was a 'clinic' on the back nine.
"I thought playing for a bit of money might have made Dan slightly uncomfortable because he's playing on the Challenge Tour [the second-tier tour in Europe], but it didn't look like it out there at all. He absolutely striped it and left the boys running off the golf course with their tails between their legs," Fox quipped.
"It was good to see him feel comfortable about there and hit some good shots and hopefully it transfers or translates into a good week for him. Golf can be a funny thing, sometimes you don't want to play that well on a Tuesday, but some guys want to play as well as they can in practice rounds and take it into the tournament. I'm not sure what kind of golfer Dan is in that regard, but all signs bode pretty well for him this week."
Hillier had the benefit of arriving in Sandwich early, playing a full practice round with his caddie on Saturday with virtually no one around, and he felt prepared for the challenge ahead.
"I made the effort to come down a few days early so I could get the course to myself and familiarise myself with the environment and I think it was great that I was able to do that and didn't feel rushed," he said.
"We were just starting to get start lines off tees and work my way around the course and now I'm trying to get myself more into a playing mindset and a little competition was definitely a good way to do it. I think having a few holes to compete against some of the top guys in the field - you can't really get much better preparation than that.
"It was funny they [Fowler and Berger] were definitely trying to put the heat on me. I had a good approach shot into the ninth hole and both the American boys were giving me stick and trying to make it as hard as possible for me to get that first putt in."
Hillier, who is ranked 672nd in the world, has had mixed results on the Challenge Tour with two top-10 finishes this season. He is 45th in the Tour standings but is adamant there is not too much of a difference between the top guys on the Challenge Tour and the players playing major championships.
"It's just that some of them haven't had the opportunity to showcase their talents and I feel like when I'm playing well, I can definitely compete with some of the best of them so I'm feeling pretty good about my game right now and hopefully I can bring some of that form over the next few days."
Both Kiwis have been handed afternoon tee times for the opening round with Hillier playing alongside Germany's Marcel Siem and Australian Matt Jones at 2.37pm (1.37am Friday NZT).
Fox has been grouped with two players ranked in the world's top 20, American World No 7 Patrick Cantlay and 20th ranked Englishman Matthew Fitzpatrick. They tee off at 1.04pm (12.04am Friday NZT).
Fox, who is ranked 185th in the world, has had a solid return to the European Tour since missing the cut at the Denmark Open in late May. He tied for 11th in Hamburg before two tied 14th finishes in Gothenburg and Munich.
However, his form has dipped the past couple of weeks with a missed cut at the Irish Open followed by a tie for 44th at the Scottish Open. He admits he has struggled with a key aspect of his game.
"The last couple of weeks my ball striking has not been to the standard it normally is, so this week that's where the focus is. I chipped and putted great last week in Scotland and sort of struggled with everything else. I just need to find some more consistency, find a couple more fairways and land a little bit closer to the hole to get myself some better birdie looks," Fox said.
This week has been the first time Fox has played Royal St George's and he admits the links course is a bit different to what he expected.
"I had heard it could be one of the more unfair - maybe that's not the right word but a bit funky - Open venues. There's not too many flat lies and there are lots of humps and hollows in the fairways and you can get some really funny bounces and end up in some bad places off some good tee shots.
"They have let the rough grow nice and thick and juicy so there are some places this week that you really don't want to go off the fairway. So, in some respects it plays a little bit wider, but the fairways are definitely more penal if you miss shots so it's going to be a pretty stern test of golf this week," Fox lamented.
As for Hillier, competing for his first claret jug, he's just soaking in the atmosphere created around the oldest golf major.
"It's been amazing coming here, playing my first major championship was an absolute buzz and was a week I will never forget but obviously playing in the Open Championship, the oldest major and the one that everyone wants to get their hands on that claret jug, it's just so special."
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