RBC Heritage: Ryan Fox bounces back with low round at Hilton Head

Ryan Fox plays a shot on the 15th hole during the first round of the RBC Heritage 2026 at Harbour Town Golf Links. Photo / Getty Images

What a difference a week makes on the PGA Tour.

In the first round of the Masters last week, Ryan Fox dropped five shots in the opening seven holes which left him chasing the cut mark, which he narrowly missed.

Seven days later, Fox ran hot on the front nine to start the RBC Heritage to see him sitting in a share of fourth after a six-under 65.

The Kiwi carded four straight birdies starting from the third hole in the latest PGA Tour signature event at Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. A bogey at the par-three seventh halted his run before a fifth birdie at the ninth saw him go out in 32.

More birdies at 11, 13 and 16 saw Fox jump into a share of second before a bogey at the par-three 17th halted his momentum. A par at the last after finding the greenside bunker saw him card a 65, two shots off the lead.

Ludvig Aberg leads at eight-under after opening with a 63, with Harris English and Viktor Hovland a shot behind. Fox shares fourth place with Gary Woodland, Rickie Fowler, Andrew Novak, Michael Brennan and former champion Matt Fitzpatrick. World No 1 Scottie Scheffler opened with a three-under 68 while Masters winner Rory McIlroy is taking the week off for the second straight year.

Defending champion Justin Thomas started with a five-over 76 to sit second to last.

The RBC Heritage has a total prize purse of US$20m ($34m) with the winner getting US$3.6m ($6.12m) and doesn’t feature a cut.

Fox made a strong start to the PGA Tour season with four straight top 25 finishes, including a seventh at The Genesis Invitational, before kidney stones forced him to withdraw from The Players Championship last month.

That stalled his form with back-to-back missed cuts at the Houston Open and the Masters. Being a signature event with a smaller field of 82 players, the RBC Heritage doesn’t have a cut.

“I started the year really well and then got whacked by kidney stones at the Players and have struggled to turn it around since then. Today was a nice change. I felt like I had a lot of really good shots there. Stats wise maybe greens in regulation don’t look great but it’s kind of one of those courses where you hit it close but still miss the green. I did that a bunch today and holed a couple of putts from off the green,” Fox said after his round.

“It was nice to see some birdies go in, see some putts go in. The one on the last was nice because I would have felt I let a really good round slip if I’d bogeyed the last two.”

Fox said the bout of kidney stones took a long time to recover.

“I’m good now. I probably didn’t realise how much it whacked me.When the pain went I thought ‘I’m all good’. Then turned up in Houston and felt like I was playing tennis instead of golf, it was that bad.

“It took a long time to figure it out, even last week I had signs of it being a little bit better but I went from being really confident in my game to being literally not feeling like I knew where it was going at all. Hopefully this is the start of it going the other way again.”

Hilton Head Island is 240km south from where Fox won his maiden PGA Tour event at the Myrtle Beach Classic last year.

“It’s a nice part of the world to play. Last time I was here in 2023 I had pneumonia, so I don’t have great memories of this place but I’ve certainly changed them a lot this week. Really enjoying the week in Hilton Head. Got my family here, got my in-laws here. The kids are having a great time and that makes it easier to play well on the golf course,” Fox added.

“It’s just a nice change in general coming down here. Last week, it’s tough, it’s stressful and then you come down here and while the golf course might be tricky it’s just a fun week to be part of. Everyone brings their families and has a great time and we’re certainly enjoying that this week.”