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Kiwi golfer Ryan Fox has revealed the struggles of being on the European Tour as the continent continues to battle the Covid-19 pandemic.
Fox, who recently returned to Europe after taking a break to spend time with family and play several local events in New Zealand, finished in a tiefor 11th at the Porsche European Open in Hamburg this week in his second tournament back on the tour.
The 34-year-old admitted he wasn't quite back to his best but was happy with where his game was at heading into the Scandanavian Mixed event in Gothenburg, Sweden.
"I've played a few tournaments at home, having not played at this level for a while, and I still feel a little bit rusty," Fox told Newstalk ZB. "Working with my caddy again for the first in eight months, we've both made a couple of silly decisions and both getting used to working with each other again. Hopefully next week in Sweden it's even better."
Aside from battling rust, Fox will also have to deal with long hours on the road with many players opting to drive across Europe instead of flying due to the pandemic.
Fox said being on tour has been "significantly worse than last year", with travel back on the agenda on the European Tour which has made it difficult for players.
"It was a seven and a half hour drive from Hamburg to Gothenburg after we finished," Fox said. "It's a product of what we're all going through at the moment. A lot of the players decided to drive over the last few weeks because with the contact tracing stuff with flying, if you've got someone with Covid on your flight, you could potentially miss 10 days through no fault of your own.
"Most guys are playing it pretty safe. It's a very different scenario than what we normally deal with on tour but at least we're back playing."
Fox will have a week off after the tournament in Sweden before travelling back to Germany for the BMW International Open followed by the Open Championship in the UK.
The schedule and Covid restrictions in Europe have created more uncertainty for Fox, who is hoping to be joined by his family in the UK in July.
"It's just a waiting game at the moment. If they can't come up I don't really know what the rest of my year looks like.
"Obviously I can't spend six months away from the family trying to keep a job this year. That's not fair on me or them or probably good for my golf game either. I'm hoping that they can come up and that can at least be somewhat normal for a few weeks in the UK and then we can figure out a plan from there."
