The Players Championship: Ryan Fox searching for consistency at TPC Sawgrass

Ryan Fox’s early string of results on the PGA Tour can be summed up by him finishing in a tie for 35th at the Cognizant Classic a fortnight ago.

Fox, in his first season as a fulltime member of the United States tour, made a strong start to the tournament and was in contention after his first two rounds. However, a three-over third round saw him lose touch with the leading groups before a final round six-under – his best of the week – saw him finish inside the top 35.

It was a week of mixed performances for Fox, who said he drove awfully in the first two rounds, but hit his irons well and put some scores together. In the third round, he hit well across the board, but had a few costly shots and putts weren’t falling. On Sunday, he didn’t hit the ball as well, but he made some putts and posted the second-best score in the field for the final round.

“It just shows how fickle this game can be at times; that it’s sometimes just really hard to put a score together, and that’s what I’ve had the whole time over here,” Fox told the Herald.

“Something’s gone really well for a round and then something else has gone badly and I haven’t managed to put it all together for even a day, to an extent, let alone a week.

“I’ve been working hard on every part of the game and it’s starting to get better and hopefully I can just find some confidence on the golf course and that’ll set me right.”

The Cognizant Classic was his best result in four PGA Tour tournaments so far this year, which have also included a T41 and two missed cuts. In 13 events on the PGA Tour last year, Fox only missed the cut twice.

After a week off, he will be back on the tees for the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass this week, in the more comfortable position of playing a course he has competed on before.

The Players Championship was one of the events Fox had earned the right to play in on last year’s PGA Tour, and he navigated it well to finish in a tie for 27th.

However, Fox expected the course to play differently this week with the rough up a bit and recent rain in Florida expected to soften up the greens, which played hard and fast for most of the 2023 tournament.

“There’s some really nasty spots both just off the fairways and around the greens this year, but the greens are a whole lot softer,” Fox said.

“So, I think it’s going to be one of those weeks where the scoring will potentially spread out a little more than it did last year.

“If you’re on, I think you’ll be able to hole a few putts and get the ball close to the hole on some soft greens, but if you keep driving it in the rough or in the water - which there’s plenty of around here - you’re going to struggle to put a score together.”

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