Olympics 2024: Ryan Fox’s quick turnaround at Wyndham Championship after third Games campaign

Ryan Fox’s season was perfectly summed up by his Olympic Games campaign.

At Le Golf National last week, the Kiwi finished in a tie for 35th, unable to put together four strong rounds of golf.

It was a mix of good and bad for the three-time Olympian. He opened with a four-under-par 67, but followed that with a two-over 73. He fought back in his third round with a three-under 68, but finished with a three-over 73 to end his tournament at two-under and 17 shots back from gold medal winner Scottie Scheffler.

“My golf had signs of being really good, and a couple of days I left a lot out there, which seems to be a recurring theme this year,” Fox told the Herald.

“But it was awesome, the atmosphere was great, the crowds were incredible for the golf and it felt like golf really found its place in the Olympics last week.

“It’s been a little bit of a tough ride for golf so far in the Olympics, with Zika being around for Rio and obviously Covid for Tokyo. It was just a great event and awesome to be a part of.

“I would have liked to have played a little bit better but it’s been the trend of my golf this year a little bit.”

The 37-year-old won’t have too much time to comb over his performance, though, returning to the US for the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina, this week. In yet another recurring narrative of his season in the US so far, Greensboro is expecting foul weather in the coming days, with a tropical cyclone set to hit the state.

Ryan Fox will play in the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina, this week. Photo / Photosport

“We’re going to be probably dealing with that a little bit over the first couple of days so we’ll see what happens,” Fox said.

“We’ll see what happens this week. It’s an old-school-style golf course in Greensboro. A lot of laying back off the tee, working it around dog legs and corners and stuff like that. It kind of reminds me a bit of a New Zealand-style golf course except for the Bermuda grass everywhere. It’ll be a fun golf course to play.”

The tournament is the final event in the PGA Tour season before the playoffs begin, with the top 70 athletes in the FedEx Cup standings going into the St Jude Championship in Memphis next week.

Fox goes into Greensboro sitting at 102 in the FedEx Cup standings, 291 points outside the top 70.

That means he would need a top-two finish to make the cut for the playoffs, with 500 points on offer for the winner of the Wyndham Championship and 300 for second place.

While Fox is well aware of the equation, he said it wasn’t something he was getting too concerned over.

“To be honest, with my head and body, it’s kind of go out and see what happens [this week]. I think this is my 24th or 25th event of the year,” he said.

“Mentally and physically I’m ready for a break, so it’s just one of those weeks to go out and give it a crack.

“I definitely know I need a good week to get into the playoffs, but I also feel like there’s not a whole lot I can do in the two days in the lead-up to the tournament to really change where things are at. So let’s just go out on the golf course, try to get out of my own way, and I hope that I get a lot more of the good stuff that’s been happening this week than some of the bad stuff.

“It’s been pretty close a lot of times and I haven’t put it all together. I’d love this to be the week. If not, I’m very much looking forward to three and a half weeks off after this week and getting back home for the first time since the end of January.”

Ryan Fox’s Wyndham Championship round one and two tee times

Friday 12.40am and Saturday 6am - playing alongside Greyson Sigg (US) and Chan Kim (US).

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