Golf: Ryan Fox finding his feet after a honeymoon period

Ryan Fox gets in some practice. Photo / Mike Scott

New Zealand golf No1 Ryan Fox tees off at the European Tour's Maybank Championship in Malaysia later today in what will be his only tournament in 62 days. The world No73 last played the New Zealand Open which finished on March 3 and his next tournament after Malaysia will be the British Masters starting on May 9.

A number of factors have resulted in the inactivity which Fox concedes could halt the momentum gained from winning his first European Tour event in Perth last month.

"I played a lot of golf to start the year, seven tournaments in a row." Fox said. "Throwing in the win in Perth helps the scheduling a little bit and I was burnt out at the end of the last couple of years."

Fox got married the weekend after the New Zealand Open and had a few days off afterwards to recover from what has been a hectic start to the season.

"We don't have a whole lot on in March and April. Obviously we had Kenya last week which I was never going to play after my wedding and Malaysia this week works. But next week's tournament in India coincides with my best mate's wedding and I am best man."

The Masters is on the following week which Fox hasn't qualified for with the next big European Tour event in Morocco in late April.

"We decided to go on honeymoon in South Africa so if I played Morocco I probably wouldn't have been ready for it. So instead, I will have a couple of weeks at home doing some practice and getting ready for a run through the British Masters and the PGA Championship.

It's nice to have a break at this time of the year and also have a chance to work on my game which I haven't been able to do the past couple of years.

Ryan Fox

"It's nice to have a break at this time of the year and also have a chance to work on my game which I haven't been able to do the past couple of years," Fox said.

He is not too concerned he will miss out on potential ranking points over the next month or so. He was never a realistic chance of making the 64 strong field for next week's World Match Play Championship event in Texas.

"The match play was dependent on my performances at the New Zealand Open and at the WGC event in Mexico and I didn't play well enough in Mexico. It looks like I needed to be ranked about 68 to get into the match play which was the cut off after last week [Fox was 72] and obviously getting married was important and that took the tournament in Qatar out of the equation as well.

"It does kill the momentum maybe a little bit but the last couple of years I have generally played really well in those big events in the middle of the year. I certainly hope to do the same this year and the biggest world ranking event I needed to get into was the PGA Championship and they take the top 100 and I have definitely locked that up."

Fox will get back to the UK in plenty of time for the British Masters, one of the European Tour's flagship events starting on May 9. The PGA Championship is at Beth Page in New York the following week, having been moved from its traditional August slot.

"I will be fresh and it will be nice to have that feeling a couple of times this year rather than just in January." With changes to the US Tour schedule, more of the big European Tour events are now in the second half of the season and Fox thinks his lengthy break will help him.

"Tournaments like the Italian Open and Wentworth have moved to later in the year from May, early June, so it's a bit more important to be on form later in the year than it was the last couple of years. So hopefully staying fresh will make it easier to play well at the end of the year. Trying to play 11 of 13 weeks like I did at the end of last year doesn't work."

This week Fox feels ready for a big effort ahead of his upcoming layoff.

"The golf game feels in pretty good shape. I haven't done a lot in terms of preparation. I took a few days off after the wedding because that was the first time I had a chance to relax for eight weeks and I got back into it at the end of last week and came up to Singapore a couple of days early.

"There's no reason I can't play well here. It's a funny week because it's hot and humid around 35 degrees. It's a week that conserving energy is really important."