📰 Ryan Fox's struggle for results on PGA Tour

By Christopher Reive

Ryan Fox is realistic about the risk of missing out on a spot in the second major of the PGA Tour season.

Qualifying for all four majors in each of the past two seasons, Fox is on the verge of missing out on next weekend’s PGA Championship after having already missed The Masters last month.

His last opportunity to earn a place in the PGA Championship field comes this week as he returns to South Carolina for the Myrtle Beach Classic.

While the field for next week’s major at Quail Hollow in North Carolina has already been designated, two spots are being held for the winners of the two Tour events this week – the Truist Championship and the alternate field Myrtle Beach tournament.

Reflecting on the year so far and currently being on the outside looking in for next week’s major, the current world No 119 took his current situation in stride.

“I’d certainly like to be there, but I can also be fairly real about it,” Fox told the Herald.

“I haven’t played well enough, this year or last year, to be up in the world rankings to guarantee myself places in those. I’m on the right tour to get world ranking points and everything, it just it hasn’t quite clicked.

“It’s a good thing on the PGA Tour, it literally only takes one good week and you can change your whole schedule. That’s certainly what I’m going to be trying to do over the next couple of months or so.”

Myrtle Beach was a happy hunting ground for Fox last year.

It was his second top-five finish of the season – the first being the team’s event in New Orleans – as he ended the week in a tie for fourth at 15-under-par. American Chris Gotterup won the tournament at 22-under.

Fox was excited to return to the alternate field event, which is contested by players who don’t meet the criteria for the Truist Championship, a 72-athlete signature event.

“I think it was probably the most surprising course of the year last year. Being an alternate event, I don’t think expectations are overly high in terms of what the golf course is going to be, and I’ve heard a lot from other guys that played last year, they were really impressed with the golf course.

“It’s fun to play, it’s tricky in places, it’s got some small greens, the greens are pretty firm as well, it’s got a little bit of length to it, and, being pretty close to the water, it gets some breeze. It feels like a golf course that you’ve got to golf your ball around a little bit. There’s certainly a score to be had, 20-something-under won around here last year, but it still feels like it’s not just a straight putting competition, like maybe it was last week [at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson].”

Fox finished last weekend’s event in Texas in a tie for 60th at five-under, with American Scottie Scheffler winning at an impressive 32-under.

It was another week where there was plenty of good work undone as the tournament went on, which has been a familiar story for Fox with a little bit of bad creeping into his golf and leaving him with little reward for the good.

“The Tour is just really strong. If you’re a little bit out in any area of your game, there’s no hiding, basically. I’ve had patches of good with everything this year, I’ve had patches of bad with everything. If you’re not shooting really low scores, you’re going backwards, and that’s what I’ve struggled with for the most part.

“I’m kind of in that place where I actually don’t feel like I’m playing that badly at all; I’m hitting a lot of really good shots, it’s just I’m not quite hitting it close enough, when I do, I’m not quite holing the putts, and when I miss a green or two, don’t get one of those up and down and make a couple of sloppy bogies, all of a sudden, two under’s looking like a decent score where I feel like I’ve probably played well enough to shoot six-[under].

“Out on the PGA Tour, for the most part, you’ve got to shoot six-under most days - or [it] feels like you’ve got to shoot six-under most days - to be up near the pointy end of the leaderboard.

“I just need to put a score together. That’s been the hardest thing this year.”

Ryan Fox’s PGA Tour season so far...

Made cuts

Texas Children’s Houston Open - T15. The Players Championship - T20. Valspar Championship - T47. Corales Puntacana Championship - T59. CJ Cup Byron Nelson - T60. Phoenix Open - T63.

Missed cuts

Mexico Open, Cognizant Classic, Valero Texas Open, Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission.