Golf: Ryan Fox looking to cap of impressive year in similar fashion at Australian Open

Ryan Fox will take part in the Australian Open, which begins on Thursday. Photo / Getty Images

Ryan Fox is looking to finish his phenomenal year with a flourish at the historic mixed-gender Australian Open in Melbourne.

The world No 27 missed the cut at last week’s Australian PGA Championship, five days after a top-20 finish at the DP World Tour season finale in Dubai, with Fox blaming his struggles in Brisbane on jetlag.

The two Australian tournaments are co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour and mark the start of the new season. After a campaign that saw him win two titles on tour, produce a slew of top-10 finishes and end the year ranked second behind world No 1 Rory McIlroy on the Order of Merit, Fox is looking forward to getting home next week.

But first, two of the best golf courses in Australasia await with the tournament being staged at the Victoria Golf Club and Kingston Heath on Melbourne’s sandbelt.

Fox is one of 12 New Zealanders in the field and gets underway alongside Australian Marc Leishman and Denmark’s Rasmus Hoigaard in the opening round (2:27pm) at the Victoria Golf Club on Thursday.

“I slept in to 11 on Saturday morning which I haven’t done in about 15 years so that pretty much shows how tired I was last week. The rest has probably been a good thing and I am definitely feeling a little bit better this week,” Fox said.

What excites Fox about this week’s tournament is the location.

“They are probably two of the best golf courses in the world this week.

“Kingston Heath is always up there as one of the best in Australia and Victoria is arguably not too far behind that. So yeah, it’s easy to get up for this one. The Aussie Open’s a pretty big event with a lot of history and it’s a couple of golf courses I’ve played quite a bit over the years.

“I would love to play well this week. There’s probably been a little bit of a comedown from last season, even though that was only a week and a half ago at this point. But I am definitely feeling a bit more refreshed and will be giving it a good crack this week. And the plan is no different than any other week this year, just go out and try to beat the golf course and be there come Sunday afternoon.”

It’s a stacked field with Cam Smith, Adam Scott, Leishman and Fox leading the men’s contenders and top Australian women Minjee Lee and Hannah Green in the women’s field.

“They’ve done really well on the field and I think Melbourne will come out in force to support it, which will be nice.”

While Fox will finish his year on Sunday afternoon, assuming he makes the cut, he won’t be putting away the clubs just yet. He’s the headline act at a six-hole challenge at Royal Auckland next Friday. Six teams of celebrities will play six holes, with Fox playing two holes with each group. The groups will be playing Ambrose, while Fox will be playing his own ball.

“It’ll be fun,” said Fox. “Getting to play six holes at Royal will be great. And we’ve got some great celebrities and sportspeople coming to play. The format looks interesting - hopefully I can be on form because I think I’m going to have to play pretty well to beat a couple of three-man Ambrose teams.”

‘Chasing the Fox’ celebrity teams:

Rugby – Beauden Barrett, Jordie Barrett, Damian McKenzie

Cricket – Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Mitch Santner

Olympics – Eric Murray, Simon Child, Tom Abercrombie

NZ Warriors – Shaun Johnson, Wayde Egan, Freddy Lussick

Politics – John Key, David Seymour, Max Key

Media – Justin Marshall, Mark Richardson, third member TBC

For tickets and more information, visit www.supersixgolf.com.