Ryan Fox chips in for first PGA Tour win
- NZ Sports Wire
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Ryan Fox has become the ninth New Zealand golfer to win on the PGA Tour.
Fox made his PGA Tour breakthrough at the Myrtle Beach Classic - an additional event - on Sunday (Monday NZ Time), chipping in from off the green on the first playoff hole for his maiden US victory.
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The 38-year-old Aucklander ended a 10-year drought for New Zealand on America's top tour, earning a spot in this week's PGA Championship, a two-year PGA Tour exemption and US$720,000 (NZ$1.2 million) in prize money.
Fox closed with a bogey-free five-under 66 at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club, his third round in the sixties, making four birdies on the back-nine to get into a three-way playoff at 15-under with Canadian Mackenzie Hughes and American Harry Higgs.
On the 73rd hole, the par-four 18th at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club, Fox missed the fairway and the green, while Hughes and Higgs were accurate.
However, the Kiwi No 1 chipped in from the intermediate rough from 53 feet for birdie, raising his right fist before the ball found the cup. Hughes missed from 17 feet and Higgs from 30 feet to confirm Fox as the victor.
“I had a really similar line in regulation and missed the putt right,” Fox said. “My caddie, Dean (Smith), said to me, 'Remember, this doesn’t break that much.' So I just kind of aimed straight at it, and I hit the spot I wanted to hit.
"To be honest, it never looked like it was going anywhere else, and the rest of it is a bit of a blur from there.”
Fox started the day three strokes off the lead and remained an outside chance for victory after just one birdie, at the par-four third, and eight pars on the front-side.
He birdied the par-four 10th, par-five 13th and 15th, and par-four 17th to tie Higgs for the clubhouse lead at 15-under and get within one stroke of Hughes, who missed a 13-foot par putt for victory.
Fox had won three times on the DP World Tour, including the flagship BMW PGA Championship in 2023, and has climbed as high as No 23 in the world. But he had yet to record a top-10 on the PGA Tour this year.
“Very rewarding,” Fox said. “I haven’t transitioned probably as well as I would have liked over to the PGA Tour. It was a tough year last year. I managed to just keep my card. It’s been a scratchy start this year as well.
"I always deep down felt like I could compete with the guys out here. Just haven’t been able to put it together. I was very happy to do it this week and give myself a chance on Sunday was nice again.”
Fox is expected to vault from 138th in the FedEx Cup standings to 62nd, with his season prizemoney to just shy of US$1.2 million. He will play the PGA Tour's next Signature Event, The Memorial Tournament in late-May.
Fox has joined an exclusive group of Kiwis to win on the PGA Tour, featuring Sir Bob Charles, John Lister, Grant Waite, Frank Nobilo, Craig Perks, Phil Tautarangi, Michael Campbell and Danny Lee.
Lee, now playing on the LIV Golf circuit, was the last to win, at the 2015 Greenbrier Classic.
The Myrtle Beach Classic was played opposite the PGA Tour's Signature Event, the exclusive-field Truist Championship, featuring the tour's best-72 golfers.