Ryan Fox was overlooked for this year's Presidents Cup. Photo / Photosport
Ryan Fox was overlooked for this year's Presidents Cup. Photo / Photosport
Ryan Fox admits disappointing results in big tournaments and a "PGA Tour-centric" criteria may have cost him a spot in the international team for this month's Presidents Cup.
The Kiwi world No 47 had played himself into contention to make his debut at the biennial contest between the international teamand the United States, but has failed to make one of South African Trevor Immelman's six captain's picks for the tournament at Quail Hollow in North Carolina from September 24-27.
Fox has had a career-best season on the DP World Tour, winning his second career Tour title in February at Ras Al Khaimah in the Middle East. His world ranking has rocketed from 213 at the start of the year to inside the top 50 on the back of some outstanding results, including three runner-up finishes at the Soudal Open, the Dutch Open and the Irish Open.
But missed cuts at two of the three majors he played, the US Open and The Open Championship, plus a lowly finish of 54th at the PGA Championship and a tie for 47th at the Scottish Open, may have impacted Immelman's thinking.
"I probably didn't help myself in the four big events, the really big events I played this year, the Scottish Open and three majors probably weren't as good as what I'd played at some of the other events," Fox told the Herald while preparing for the DP World Tour's flagship tournament, the BMW PGA Championship, starting at Wentworth tomorrow.
"And that's just how sport goes and I think maybe just not playing in the States week in week out certainly hurt. I don't think it was probably anything to do with my game. I think in terms of the golf course, I've played Quail Hollow before. Length is a big asset and I've definitely got a bit of that. I think it's just so PGA Tour-centric, the whole thing. I mean the PGA Tour owns the Presidents Cup as well," Fox said.
Ryan Fox during the Open Championship. Photo / Photosport
Immelman, a major champion at the 2008 Masters, has looked to the PGA Tour for his six captain's picks, as the international team chase what would be only a second victory after winning in Melbourne in 1998.
Five of Immelman's six picks are rookies, with Canadian Taylor Pendrith (56th in the world), South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout (64th), Aussie Cam Davis (66th), South Korean KH Lee (41st) and Colombian Sebastian Munoz (65th) to make their debuts. Si Woo Kim (75th) of South Korea played his only Presidents Cup in 2017. Five of the six are ranked below Fox.
Immelman's captain's picks increased from four to six last week when world No 2 Cameron Smith and fellow top-20 player Joaquin Niemann left the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf.
Despite that news seemingly boosting his chances, Fox always had an inkling PGA Tour players would be favoured - and it has proved to be the case.
"I've known for a little while behind the scenes and had a call from Trevor to let me know and obviously I couldn't tell anyone," Fox said.
"It's obviously disappointing. Not being on the PGA Tour probably hurt. In that respect, I think you've got to do something really special to get in from outside the PGA Tour. And maybe timing played a part, with me having had time off in the lead-up and the players who got picked having been playing on the PGA Tour probably hurt me a bit."
Ryan Fox after hitting a drive. Photo / Photosport
Fox has only teed it up twice since missing the cut at St Andrew's in mid-July.
"If it was going to be picked six weeks earlier, then after the run of form I had it might have been really hard to leave me out. But a missed cut at the Open and quite a few weeks off, it was sort out of sight out of mind a little bit there," the 35-year-old said.
"It was nice of Trevor to call me and say that I was close, but unfortunately not in and it's just a little bit more motivation for next time."
Fox meanwhile is looking forward to the challenge of taming a course he knows so well - he lives 10 minutes down the road from Wentworth - in this week's BMW PGA Championship.
"It's a really strong field [and] obviously there's a bit of controversy around a lot of the LIV Tour players here this week. So it would certainly be nice to play well at what feels like a home event," he said.
"I feel like I should be able to play well around here but just haven't figured it out yet on tour. I've had a couple of half decent results but nothing great. So hopefully this is the year that I can put one together and carry on what's been a really good season and... maybe show something to Trevor that I might have maybe deserved a bit of a stronger look there."
