It’s an unfortunate turn of events for Fox, who has made an impressive start to his season on golf’s top tour as he looks to secure himself a place in the Presidents Cup team later this year.
Through four events, Fox has made four cuts and four top-25 finishes, including finishing in a tie for seventh at the Genesis Invitational last month. He has already earned $1.7 million (US$1m) in 2026, and sits at No 34 on the FedEx Cup leaderboard.
Withdrawing from The Players Championship is a missed opportunity for Fox to continue that form in what is widely considered the unofficial fifth major of the season, where he claimed a top-20 finish in 2025.
Fox was heading into the event ranked at No 7 among the hopefuls for the international team for September’s Presidents Cup, with the top six getting an automatic spot on the team before another six players are selected by the team captain.
“In terms of just a single thing, it would be qualifying for that Presidents Cup team,” Fox told the Herald of his goals for the season earlier this month.
“I’ve got to play some really good golf for that to happen, so I feel if I can tick that off, then I’ve probably achieved a lot of good stuff this year. Missing out on the Tour Championship hurt a little bit last year, so I’d like to get there this year as well.
“I played some really good golf last year but that would require some better golf, and probably some better golf at the back end of the year. But I’ve started a whole lot better this year compared to last year, so I’m in a good place and there’s a lot of golf to be played and a lot of points to play for.
“Those are probably the two major things this year. I feel to qualify for the Presidents Cup and to get into that Tour Championship, it does require winning again, and I’d certainly like to do that too.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
