Golf: Ryan Fox reveals reasons behind extended break as PGA Tour card hunt resumes at Irish Open

When Ryan Fox returned to New Zealand after missing the cut at the 3M Open in late July, he came to an important revelation.

This year has been the biggest in the Kiwi golfer’s career, spending plenty of time in the United States competing in PGA Tour events and majors, and playing well enough to put himself in contention for a fulltime card on the tour next year.

But after a missed cut in Minnesota, just the third time he didn’t feature in the weekend rounds of the 13 Tour events he has started this year, he took some time to assess where he was at.

“I didn’t realise how burnt out I was until I got home,” Fox told the Herald.

He said the signs were there, but it wasn’t until he got back home to spend time with his family and away from the greens that he got a true feel for the extent to which he needed a break.

“It’s just not really enjoying golf, which is definitely what was going on there,” Fox explained of how he was feeling.

“The Open was a tough week. It was long, a lot of bad weather and I had a lot of travel leading up to it. Then when I went to Minnesota for the 3M championship, I just kind of felt like I didn’t want to be there. That’s a sign for me that things aren’t really where they should be. I was pretty happy to get home after that.”

That’s not to say Fox locked the clubs away in a dark cupboard for the past five weeks. He played some rounds in Auckland - even scoring a hole-in-one during a round at the Royal Auckland and Grange Golf Club - but enjoyed switching off from the game as he pleased.

It has put him in good stead as he returns to action this week at the Irish Open, the first in a decent run of events on the DP World Tour he is set to play - his family joining him in Europe for his next run of events.

“It’s been a pretty lonely year in parts travelling the States by myself, so it’ll be great to have the family around,” Fox said.

He will now be away until mid-November before potentially playing some events in Australia and returning to New Zealand for some celebrations of the sport - with the Fox Fishing and Golf event at Waihī Beach from December 7-9 and the Chasing the Fox celebrity six-hole event at the Royal Auckland and Grange on December 14.

As it stands, Fox still has two roads down which he can secure a PGA Tour card for next year. He has collected a good haul of FedEx Cup points to sit on the qualification bubble down that route with the seven Fall Series events remaining, while the top 10 eligible golfers on the DP World Tour also earn a card.

Should Fox have a good run in his return to Europe, including a return to Scotland to defend his Dunhill Links Championship, he will likely continue down that path. However, he has left himself room to move. His commitments thus far will leave him with three events on the PGA Tour Fall Series should he need to try and make up some points and qualify that way.

“The golf game has been pretty close all year. I’ve been fighting a couple of niggling little - a couple of back issues and stuff like that, so having the time off to just let them settle down seems like it’s made a massive difference in that respect.

“I’m kind of hoping I go into these weeks sort of almost slightly underprepared, but very fresh.”

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.