Ryan Fox returns to PGA Tour action at the Memorial Tournament in Ohio this week. Photo / AFP
Chaos continues to reign for Ryan Fox.
After a run of five weeks of back-to-back tournaments on the PGA Tour, the Kiwi golfer soaked up every moment of some time away from the course last week.
Enjoying time in the Florida sun with his family, fishing with fellow golfer and sometimes teammate Garrick Higgo, and playing just one round of golf, it was a week Fox needed after a massive stretch in the context of his career.
Two weeks earlier, he won his first event on the Tour, before finishing in a tie for 28th at the PGA Championship – a tournament for which he secured the last entry with the win at Myrtle Beach.
Now, as he returns to the Memorial in Ohio this week, Fox is throwing himself into a chaos that has been refined given his recent feats.
“It was just nice to chill out last week and not actually think about anything to do with golf, other than kind of what the schedule looks like coming up, which is a bit chaotic,” Fox told the Herald.
“But they’re more good problems to have rather than the schedule I was having, where I was chasing events to try to get into playoffs or keep a card or anything at the end of the year. I don’t have to worry about that. It’s more trying to get into the big events now, which is a nice change.
“But yeah, it still probably hasn’t sunk in. I think it probably will when I get home and catch up with friends and family and get to really celebrate properly with them. It’s pretty cool to be able to tick off a dream. It’s not often you get to do that.”
Fox’s schedule will be at its most chaotic over the next few weeks as he looks to mount a charge into the US Open, which starts on June 12. He needs to be inside the top 60 on the official world golf rankings by June 10 (NZT) to qualify for the third major of the season.
Heading into the Memorial, he sits at No 78. A good week this week or in next week’s RBC Canadian Open could see him move up.
The Memorial, at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Muirfield Village Golf Club, is one of the Tour’s signature events – a group of eight tournaments that offer increased prize money and FedEx Cup points. While five of those events do not feature a cut line, the Memorial does, with 50 of the 72 starters moving on to play the weekend rounds.
“It would be nice to be playing in one of those guaranteed four rounds, but I think I’m one of the guys, and there’s been a lot of opinions about it, that think these events probably should be a bigger field and cut accordingly and more run in line with what a full field or a close-to-full field event would be,” Fox said.
“Regardless, it’s nice to be in this event. I think it’s one of the best events all year that we get to play.”
After his quest for US Open qualification, Fox has eyes on qualifying for the Travelers Championship signature event the following week.
From there, the picture will start to get clearer as he plans the back end of his year, knowing 2026 gets off to an early start with his entry into the Sentry in Hawaii in early January confirmed.
While last year he had to play a few events in the PGA fall series to ensure he maintained his card, this year he has his sights set on the FedEx Cup playoffs and perhaps spending a bit more time in Europe.
“If I’m chasing, trying to get into the playoffs, I play a little bit more. If I have a couple of good weeks, like the Scottish [Open] and The Open for instance, then it kind of takes the pressure off getting into that first playoff event and I can maybe skip one or two.
“Then at the end of the year, I don’t have to play the fall series over here in the US. I can go and play some of those events in Europe that I really enjoy playing ... maybe even get a chance to go back to Aussie at the end of the year and play there.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.