Kiwi Ryan Fox during the opening round of the US Open. Photo / Getty
Kiwi Ryan Fox during the opening round of the US Open. Photo / Getty
Typically a four-over par opening round at a golf major is something to forget, but Ryan Fox would have gone to bed after his opening round at the US Open feeling relatively content.
The Kiwi sits way down the leaderboard, in a tie for 92nd, after carding a 74 inhis first 18 holes at the infamous Winged Foot Golf Club in New York.
American Justin Thomas leads at five-under, one shot ahead of countrymen Patrick Reed and Matthew Wolff and Belgian Thomas Pieters. Former champion Rory McIlroy headlines a group of three tied for fifth, at three-under.
The course is widely regarded as one of the toughest in the world, thanks to its dense roughs, narrow fairways and tricky multi-layered greens - with Geoff Ogilvy winning with a score of five-over par the last time the US Open was held at Winged Foot in 2006.
On Friday, only 21 players were able to post a below-par first-round score.
Fox recovered from a bogey at the second hole with 10 consecutive pars, before dropping shots at the 13th, 16th and 17th.
"I was just a little off from the tee. I had a lot of decent shots that ended up missing fairways by a couple of yards.
"It's just absolutely dead around Winged Foot, I didn't make a birdie today which is probably the first time I've done that in a long time. It was just a bit blah really," he told the Herald.
"I wasn't really in trouble too much, and I didn't look like making any doubles. There was definitely some signs of life. I hit some decent iron shots, my short game was really tidy."
Kiwi Ryan Fox during the opening round of the US Open. Photo / Getty
Despite his early struggles, Fox remains optimistic of surviving the cut.
"The scoring is certainly going to come back in the over-par direction in the next few days. I just need to have a decent day tomorrow to get myself back in the tournament," he said.
"I think still anything around even-par is probably going to win this golf tournament. Potentially if it firms up and the wind blows a little bit, the guys at the top will come back … it definitely will be over par like it has been in previous years.
"Everyone's going to have a bad day around here at some point and hopefully that was me today."
Danny Lee, the only other New Zealander in the field, has posted a promising even-par round to sit in a tie for 22nd, five shots off the pace.
