Ryan Fox of New Zealand plays his third shot on the 18th hole during Day Four of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club. Photo / Getty Images.
Ryan Fox of New Zealand plays his third shot on the 18th hole during Day Four of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club. Photo / Getty Images.
By Joel Kulasingham at Wentworth
Ryan Fox admits he thought his shot at the title was over following a disastrous start to his final round at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club in Surrey.
After playing well all week to put himself in contention at the prestigious DP WorldTour event, which boasted a $15.2m prize pool and a star-studded field featuring the best players in Europe, Fox hit his drive on the par-four third hole out of bounds leading to what looked like a costly triple bogey.
It left him five shots behind the leaders, with his chances at winning his first title of the season quickly slipping away.
“[I] just hit one off the planet on three from nowhere,” he said of his errant tee shot. “I hadn’t looked like doing it all week. Played the hole pretty badly from there as well to make bogey with the second ball.
“I thought I was out of the tournament to be honest. I saw Tyrrell [Hatton] had started well, Jon Rahm had started well and you figure if you’re five or six back of those guys, it’s going to be pretty tough to claw it back.”
But the immovable Kiwi stuck to his game and produced what he called the best golf he’s ever played with eight birdies in 15 holes for a five-under 67 to claim the biggest - and most impressive - victory of his career.
Ryan Fox celebrates winning the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club. Photo / Getty
“To be honest, I didn’t miss a shot basically coming down the stretch from the third hole. Obviously it’s a pretty tough back nine at times. That’s easily the best I’ve ever played - socially, in a tournament, whatever - and to do it on a Sunday afternoon was pretty awesome.”
Fox’s clutch birdie putt on the 18th was enough to pip English duo Tyrrell Hatton and Aaron Rai by one shot, while the result also earned him the biggest payday of his career (NZ$2.59m) and propelled him to third on the DP World Tour order of merit, with the top 10 at the end of the season securing a PGA Tour card for next year.
The Kiwi is well-liked on the tour and was a popular winner. Aussie Min Woo Lee, who joked on social media about babysitting for Fox earlier in the week, was waiting on the 18th green to cheer him while Hatton was there to congratulate him before Fox signed his card.
The 36-year-old said it was special to win an event of this magnitude against some of the biggest names in the golfing world.
“Look at the names on that leaderboard there’s some pretty good ones, it’s still pretty surreal to kind of outplay them down the stretch. I don’t think I quite believe it in my head yet, but the trophy is sitting there so I have to.”
Fox also opened up about the difficult year for him and his family, after his father-in-law died following a short battle with cancer.
He said the victory was an emotional one, and it was nice to win it in front of his loved ones.
“It’s been a difficult year off the golf course. We welcomed our second child, which was fantastic, in May but both my mother and father-in-law were diagnosed with cancer. My father-in-law passed away in June after a really short battle and that kind of whacked us pretty hard.
“I’ve done a lot of travel, I’ve played a bit in the States this year, and I think every time I’ve gone home I’ve basically not touched my golf clubs. There’s just been so much going on at home. To have the family out in the last couple of weeks, a change of scene has been fantastic I think.
“I had five weeks at home before [last week’s tournament in] Ireland and just had a chance to refresh and it sort of made all the difference. Everything feels a bit more normal the last couple of weeks, rather than just complete chaos. Pretty cool to win with everyone here watching and win it for my father-in-law as well. I know he would’ve been proud.”
