"It's a great field this week," he said. "Many Charles Tour winners and guys who are or have played on tours all over the world. It's a great yardstick to see where your game is at and one that, if you win, you know you can foot it anywhere in the world."
Fox knows what he is talking about. He has grown up playing Charles Tour events all around New Zealand and competing with top-level pros from a young age instilled the belief that he could compete on the PGA Tour of Australasia and beyond.
Most recently his win at the Muriwai Open, where he carded a final round three-under 69 to hold off Kieran Muir by three shots, helped him secure a top-10 finish at the US$1 million Fiji International.
He signed for rounds of 69, 76, 70 and 73 at Natadola to finish in a share of sixth place to take home $38,000.
Fox said it was important to finally break through after contesting countless Charles Tour events.
"It was certainly nice to get the monkey off my back at Muriwai. I had been close a few times before that and it was good to go into the last round at Muriwai with a lead and hang on to it."
The former NZ Stroke Play Champion has been happy with his form until he hits the greens.
He was pleased with his finish in Fiji, in what he called "a really tough week", but since then he has struggled to put a score together.
The big-hitting Fox hopes that changes this week at a course he enjoys attacking.
"Tauranga is a fun course to play. There's some short par fours and it's a chance to go really low. There are some tricky holes out there but if you hit good shots you will be rewarded."
Fox has his eye on qualifying for the Web.Com Tour for the first time. He heads to Web.Com Tour Q School the week after Tauranga.
