The Aucklander came into the tournament following more than a month away from the game after withdrawing from the RBC Heritage tournament in April due to what turned into pneumonia. He then returned to New Zealand for the birth of his second child.
The last tournament he completed was the Masters at Augusta where he finished a respectable 26th and he showed yet again the big events don’t seem to faze him with a strong showing early on at a very tough set-up at Oak Hill Country Club.
“It was probably a little surprising seeing as I didn’t have a lot of prep coming in and had four weeks off in the lead-up to this with a few things on. For the most part I played pretty solid. There was some pretty scruffy iron shots in there and my short game saved me. I rode a pretty hot putter today, which was nice,” Fox said after the round.
“For most part when I was in trouble today, I was generally in trouble in the right place and managed to get myself up and down or out of trouble pretty nicely.”
The start of the tournament was delayed by almost two hours due to frost on the course. Unfortunately for Fox he didn’t receive notice of the delay until he was at the course, being one of the early groups off the first tee.
“I left my hotel at 5.30am just before I got the email. Then just before I got to the golf course I got the text. I certainly would have liked an extra hour in bed. But I can go and have a pretty nice nap this afternoon I think.”
He started well with birdies at the par four second and the par five fifth to get to two-under early in the day. He dropped a shot at the par three sixth before his third birdie of the front nine coming at the ninth.
Fox shared the lead standing on the short par four 14th tee but his drive went wide right. What looked like a possible bogey with no view of the green, he chipped to the greenside and then putted off the edge of the green for birdie which gave him the outright lead.
The host broadcaster had to apologise after twice referring to him as an Australian.
Fox then almost holed his second shot from the fairway on the 16th which would have given him an eagle and a three-shot lead. The ball rolled around the pin before ending two feet away. He missed that and walked away with par, remaining at three-under and shortly joined by Conners and Viktor Hovland as co-leaders.
Fox found the rough off the tee on the 17th and then a fairway bunker as he was unable to reach the par four green. He carded his second bogey of the day which saw him drop back to two-under. A par at the last saw him sign a 68.
Fellow Kiwi Steven Alker struggled with an opening round 10-over 80, earning his place at the tournament after winning the Senior US PGA Championship last year.
