Golf: Ryan Fox makes strong start on quest to overtake Rory McIlroy

A happy Ryan Fox after his opening round at the Nedbank Golf Challenge. Photo / Getty

Ryan Fox reeled off five birdies and an eagle on the back nine to take the first-round lead at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa on Friday and boost his hopes of overtaking Rory McIlroy in the European Tour rankings.

Fox opened his challenge at Sun City with an eight-under 64 for a one-shot lead over England’s Luke Donald.

McIlroy isn’t playing in the penultimate tournament of the season in Sun City and a victory would put Fox top of the rankings ahead of next week’s season-ending World Tour Championship in Dubai.

The New Zealander made three straight birdies on No 9, 10 and 11 and then added an eagle at No 14, a 600-yard par five. He set himself up for that eagle with a 243-yard second shot with a seven iron to within four feet. He made two more birdies on his last two holes and is in the running for a third win on the tour this year.

His latest title came at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship last month.

“I had a lot of good numbers out there, we managed to get the yardages right and I putted really nicely; but it still feels a bit strange - this golf course has kicked my arse several times before, so maybe it was just nice to me today and it’s going to come back and bite me tomorrow,” Fox told NZME.

Donald, the European Ryder Cup captain, enjoyed something of a return to form by going bogey-free in his 65.

Donald hasn’t won a tournament on either the European Tour or PGA Tour for a decade but found the Gary Player Country Club layout to his liking.

Italy’s Guido Migliozzi is third, three off the lead after a 67.

Defending champion Tommy Fleetwood only managed a 70 and is in a share of 12th place. His big setback was a double-bogey six on No 8 but he pulled it back with four birdies and no more dropped shots after that.

Fleetwood is defending the title he won in Sun City in 2019. The Nedbank Golf Challenge was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This year is the 40th time the Sun City tournament has been played. It was previously known as the Million Dollar Challenge and was born in controversy after being first held in 1981 during the height of apartheid in South Africa.

Alker on track to claim prestigious season title

PGA Tour Champions money leader Steven Alker shot a bogey-free six-under 65 on Friday to share the first-round lead at the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

Alker has to finish no worse than fifth to win the Charles Schwab Cup and is in good position after posting six birdies at Phoenix Country Club.

The 51-year-old from New Zealand was tied with John Huston and Stephen Ames in his bid to go from journeyman to champion.

Bernhard Langer shot 66, leaving him one shot back as he tries to match Hale Irwin’s PGA Tour Champions record of 45 wins. Padraig Harrington, the only player who can pass Alker for the Schwab Cup title, also shot 66. He needs to win and have Alker finish outside the top five to win the season title.

Alker didn’t have much sustained success on the PGA Tour but played his way onto the PGA Tour Champions with a string of top-10 finishes after starting as a Monday qualifier at the Boeing Classic in August 2021. He’s won five times on the over-50 tour this year, earned more than US$3.3 million (NZ$5.5m) and leads Harrington by more than 600,000 points in the Schwab Cub standings.