“It was a strange, strange scenario, really,” Fox told the Herald.
“I was told by the USGA that they exhausted all their options for people to play, but there wasn’t too many people that were very keen to play on Oakmont in the middle of the field on a Sunday and, to be honest, I can’t really blame them for that. It wouldn’t have been a fun place to play as a marker in front of a big crowd on such a tough golf course.”
A player who doesn’t like to waste time on the course, the 38-year-old knew he was in for a slow day – given rounds were taking five hours or more throughout the event.
“With me being a quick player, I was probably the worst person to be in a one, but it was fine,” Fox said.
“I tried hard to slow myself down, but I’m just not that guy – and I played pretty well. I hit a lot of good shots, which didn’t help my pace to play.
“There was certainly no real frustration in that regard. I was standing on tees, waiting for guys and just knowing that that was what was going to happen.
“I went about my process when it came to when I was ready to hit and everything was fine.”
All up, it was another good week for Fox with a T19 finish at seven-over-par seeing him improve to No 30 on the world rankings and to 24th on the FedEx Cup (PGA Tour) leaderboard.
Impressively, he was one of just two players not to three-putt through the first three rounds of the tournament – alongside American Sam Burns who led the field after 54 holes.
Unfortunately, it was a streak Fox couldn’t see through to the end of the tournament, admitting it was on his mind after someone had made him aware of the stat.
“I did get told by someone at home over email, and I definitely was thinking about it a couple of times on Sunday when I left myself some interesting first putts,” he said.
“To go around that week and only have one three-putt was pretty good. One of my playing partners had a five-putt on Friday from 20ft [6m].
“It was, it was one of those courses that if you did turn off mentally or did something that got a little aggressive at the wrong point on the greens, you could rack up some numbers quickly.”
It’s a different story this week for the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Connecticut, a course that offers players plenty of chances for low scores.
The tournament is the last of the eight signature events on the PGA Tour this season; a selection of tournaments with a limited field and increased prizemoney and FedEx Cup points on offer. The Travelers is one of the five signature events not to have a cut, with every athlete who qualifies for the event playing all four rounds.
For Fox, it’s a ninth tournament in 10 weeks and one he admits he is hopeful adrenaline will carry him through.
“It’s yielded a lot of low scores. Jim Furyk shot 58 around here – quite a few years ago now – so there are some low ones out here and they do a great job with families and everything; lots of activities and stuff. It’s one of the most popular events on tour to come to.
“There’s a lot of nice things this week compared to last week. I’ve played nine out of the last 10 weeks - a couple of wins in there, a couple of majors. There’s not a whole lot left in the tank, but it’s a nice event to come to.
“I’m looking forward to the week. The golf game’s still in pretty good shape so hopefully come Thursday (local time) the competitive juices start flowing. The lack of preparation and a bit of tiredness disappears pretty quickly in competition, and I’m hoping that happens again on Thursday.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
