Ryan Fox is hoping to become only the second New Zealander to win the The Open when he lines up at Royal Birkdale. Photo / Photosport
Ryan Fox is hoping to become only the second New Zealander to win the The Open when he lines up at Royal Birkdale. Photo / Photosport
Ryan Fox will contest his second Open championship next week after the most successful month of his career but, as he tells Andrew Alderson, his dream came close to evaporating.
Ryan Fox's career was in a bunker on November 8, 2013 at Royal Pines Resort along Queensland's Gold Coast.
He had missed the Australian PGA Championship cut by six shots and, with three events left on the calendar, had not earned enough money to regain his tour card.
The prospect of returning to qualification school was unappealing.
He chatted to his parents about the situation and his dad flew over to offer support ahead of the following week's Australian Masters in Melbourne.
"I'd changed a few things," Fox says. "I was happy to keep my card after the first year [of turning pro] but my expectations were higher in the second and it didn't work out so well.
"It was a weird situation. I'd play practice rounds fine, then couldn't find the middle of the club face in tournaments. I reached a point where I didn't know if I wanted to keep doing it.
"I have been frustrated since, but I've never been back to that place. I'm sure every professional sportperson goes through those sorts of periods."
Fox, who has a Bachelor of Arts majoring in psychology, asked himself why he played golf. The answer: "Because it's fun". He blanked any thoughts about outcome at the Masters and finished fifth.
His card and his career were back on the fairway.
Now 30 and with plenty more earnings to his name, Fox is about to play The Open for a second time. He finished in a tie for 49th on debut in 2015. Such is the awe in which the tournament is held, many golfing aficionados don't even use the prefix "British" to distinguish the event from its United States equivalent.
Fox will line up against the world's best, including fellow Kiwi Michael Hendry, at Royal Birkdale in England's north-west. Both will be hoping to emulate Sir Bob Charles, the only New Zealander to win the tournament.
Fox is in his debut year on the European Tour. He tied for fourth at this week's Irish Open, netting prize money of approximately $381,000. The result was his fifth consecutive top-30 finish. He came sixth at the HNA Open de France the previous week and collected about $338,000.
His father, Grant, has been an important part of his career, including acting as his caddy in amateur days. Photo / Photosport
Using customary modesty, he says the last two weeks have "changed things a bit", but the relative comfort of those earnings can gloss over the realities of getting there.
The glamour of the European Tour is a hefty 1-wood from the grind up the professional ranks.
Rory McIlroy could afford to chopper into Northern Ireland's Portstewart Golf Club every day of the Irish Open, but such giddy success seldom comes easy.
"I remember one pro-am in Melbourne," Fox says. "It poured with rain and was freezing cold, and there were three of us in one tiny lounge [of a hotel room] with two heaters on full bore and our golf gear strewn in an effort to dry the stuff out so we could play the next day. It was like walking into a sauna, but we had no choice."
Those experiences with close mates ignite fond memories for Fox ... in hindsight.
"A lot of guys out there - and I've been one of them - have been in situations playing for purses of $100,000 and less, where you know only a top-five finish will cover your costs," he says. "You get used to sharing small hotel rooms. It can be pretty dingy, especially when you're thinking about where the next meal's coming from, but we do it for one reason whether we're at the top or not - because we love it."
Fox was a late golfing developer, turning pro just before his 25th birthday.
Rugby and cricket were his sporting passions through school and he picked up tournament golf later than most of his peers.
He says studying psychology might have helped his mental game to a degree, but not as much as the practical advice of his parents who will also roam the Royal Birkdale links next week.
Fox's catalogue of success means he is less manacled by the suffix "son of All Black Grant" these days. However, his dad's mana as a meticulous All Blacks first five-eighths and goal kicker qualified him as much as anyone to be his son's sporting guide.
"Dad played at the highest level, and was known as being mentally tough," Fox says. "He caddied for me a lot when I started, and continued to do so a bit when I was a pro. He certainly helped me develop."
Fox's pedigree can just as easily be linked to his mum Adele's side of the family. Her father, the late Merv Wallace, was one of the country's finest test cricket mentors who ran an iconic sports shop in Newmarket.
She also penned a frank and thought-provoking chapter in Grant's 1992 autobiography The Game The Goal. It highlighted the need for inclusivity of players' families in top level sport, and railed against the faceless public criticism her husband was subjected to. She wrote of 5-year-old Ryan: "May he never have to tolerate such criticism as has come his father's way and may he never have to indulge in it at the expense of others. That, too, will be part of his education. He has heard comments on radio and they bewilder him. He asks, "Why do they say that about daddy? What did daddy do wrong?"
Kiwi Golfer Ryan Fox. Photo / Photosport
"Mum's sometimes easier to talk to than dad because dad looks at everything from an analytical point of view," Fox says. "She knows what it's like better than anyone to deal with the stresses of top-level sport. Dad did it, but she was with him the whole time and supported him through that when rugby wasn't professional.
"They did it tough at times, and know how hard it can be."
Fox also pays tribute to his long-term partner Anneke, who has been with him through the professional transition.
"She's travelling with me at the moment, which makes life on the road a fair bit easier."
When Fox tees off on Thursday he will again forge a path towards his dream of winning a major.
"A few mates have played Royal Birkdale and rated it one of the best courses in the world.
"[Former Kiwi pro] Greg Turner messaged me - he's played a couple of Opens there [1991 and 1998] - and said it's one of the more straightforward [links] courses you'll play. He said it's quite long but not unnecessarily tricky as opposed to links courses with pot bunkers and funny bounce."
The definition of a links course tends to be those which are by water and consisting of sandy soil, undulating fairways for a "running game" and limited trees. Grasses like browntops and fescue provide suitable hazards and rough.
Fox says he enjoys links golf as much for the variety.
"We don't get a lot of pure links-style courses in New Zealand; Paraparaumu, Muriwai and Tara Iti would be the closest.
"The ground conditions in Scotland and the UK make the fairways so firm and fast, which takes some getting used to. You've got to hit backwards out of those pot bunkers sometimes.
"Conditions play such a big part. Last year at Royal Troon one side of the draw struggled in the wet and the wind, whereas Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson shot 17- and 20-under respectively when it was dry and largely still."
In his youth, Fox would watch The Open through the night with the assistance of a 1.5 litre of Coke and a bag of lollies. The sugar overload was "probably not the best for me, but always enjoyable".
This week he will face the tournament with gallons of ability and a bag of clubs.
