Had you told Ryan Fox he’d finish the Texas Children’s Houston Open with a season-best result on the PGA Tour at the start of the week, it would’ve been a welcome note.
The Kiwi played himself into some good form coming into the tournament, and the Memorial Park GolfCourse in Houston proved tough for him last year as he finished at five-over-par in a tie for 78th.
This week, Fox finished in a tie for 15th at 11-under. However, it may feel like one that got away from him down the home stretch.
Fox went into Monday’s final round in third place on the leaderboard at 12-under and playing in the final group alongside clubhouse leader Min Woo Lee and Alejandro Tosti, as he hunted his maiden PGA Tour victory.
Fox played some solid golf in the final round but missed a few good scoring opportunities early and was made to pay with three bogeys on the back nine. He finished with a one-over 71 – his worst score of the week by three shots – which saw him drop 12 spots down the leaderboard as the final round saw a lot of good golf played; Gary Woodland and Sami Valimaki both equalling the course single-round record at eight-under, while familiar suspects Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Wyndham Clark were also among the big movers of the day.
Big movers as they were, no one could catch Australian Lee, who held his nerve to win his first PGA Tour event by one shot, finishing at 20-under for the week and earning a place in the Masters in two weeks’ time.
Lee, who went into the final round with a four-shot lead, made the most of that breathing room in an eventful round in which he had to take a penalty for an unplayable ball (which he looked at playing from his knees before his caddie talked him into the more sensible option) as well as blast one into the water from the 16th tee and have to scramble for bogey.
Needing a par on the par-four 18th to win, Lee made it tricky for himself, but a well-weighted putt from the fringe of the green left him a tap-in to win the tournament.
While Fox will be disappointed not to have put himself into a position to challenge Lee at the top of the leaderboard, there was plenty of good he will be able to take away from the week, particularly from his short game around the green.
With another top-20 result to his name, he should see a nice boost in his rankings in both the FedEx Cup and world rankings, which he will look to build on at the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio later this week.
