Fox records best finish on European Tour

New Zealands Ryan Fox has recorded his best finish on the European Tour this morning at the Rolex Series, French Open in Paris.

The Auckland professional carded an impressive final round of four-under (67) to finish in sixth place and seven-under par for the tournament, five shots behind the victorious Tommy Fleetwood of England.

The in-form Kiwi has backed up multiple top 20 finishes to jump even higher up the leaderboard this week and earn nearly $400,000 NZD for his efforts and leaps a vital 53 places to now be 49th in the Race to Dubai standings.

"I am very happy, I certainly picked a good weekend to play well and made a big dent in the order of merit standings and I should get a few good world ranking points from it as well, so I am very, very pleased," said Fox.

If he stays inside the top 100 at the end of the European Tour season, he automatically retains his European Tour full status.

However, despite these results Fox missed out on a qualifying spot in The Open Championship by just one shot which would have completed a near-perfect weekend. He will have a few more chances at returning to The Open for the second time in his career when he tees it up at the Irish and Scottish Open.

"It was looking good when I had finished, but Mike Lorenzo-Vera made a birdie on the 18th hole to push me out of The Open spot. This has happened to me twice after falling just short at the Australian Open last year."

Fox will take huge confidence from this weekend after feeling like he was in the hunt coming down the home stretch in one of the biggest tournaments of the season.

"I felt like I had a chance to win the tournament with five or six holes to go and I did give myself some good chances, so there are some huge positives to take."

Fox will now look to continue his run of form in the Rolex Series, this time at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open Hosted by the Rory Foundation next weekend.

This event has the same purse of $7,000,000 and a chance to earn a start in the prestigious Open Championship.

AROUND THE WORLD

Danny Lee has completed his week on the PGA Tour in a tie for 22nd at the Quicken Loans National to continue his steady run of form.

With rounds of 70, 68, 72 and 69, Lee will be ruing his third round which dropped him out of contention. Tim Wilkinson finished in 72nd place after a difficult weekend.

Lydia Ko has also had a weekend to forget at the KPMG Womens PGA Championship after shooting 76 and 75 to drop right off the pace and finish in 59th while her good friend Danielle Kang won for the first time on the LPGA Tour.

Ko made steady progress in the opening two rounds to be in contention for the second major championship of the season before collapsing.

The world number three will now continue her run of majors with her next event in two weeks time at the US Womens Open.

- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Golf NZ