8
In hindsight, it may have been
the wrong decision to go to Mexico,
he says. It’s a difficult golf course
at 2500m above sea level, and he
had to quickly travel from Perth,
via New Zealand, with no prep.
The quick turnaround probably
hurt him at the 100th New Zealand
Open at The Hills and Millbrook
near Queenstown a week later, too,
he believes.
In the end, he finished a respect-
able 11th there, before marrying
his partner, Anneke, on Auck-
land’s Rakino Island the following
weekend. Then, after the Maybank
Championship in Malaysia, he took
an extended break from tourna-
ment golf, which included the
couple’s honeymoon in Africa. It
had been a cracking start to 2019.
“It was nice to get that win early
with its guaranteed status: I had a
job for next year, which as a profes-
sional golfer is never a guarantee. I
thought I was setting myself up for
what was going to be a very good
year after the start.”A
nd then he found his game
in a bunker, a deep, deep
bunker. After returning to
the tour in May, he missed the cut
seven times in row – two more than
in his entire 2018.
“I was always going to be a bit
rusty after six weeks off. I missed
the cut by two at the British
Masters, with a couple of silly
mistakes, but still felt pretty good
about things. Then I went to the
PGA Championship in New York
and basically got my arse kicked.
That really, really knocked the
confidence.”
His solution was to talk: to his
father, to then-All Blacks coachSteve Hansen and to former All
Blacks winger and mental-health
campaigner Sir John Kirwan.
Hansen told Fox to use his
frustration as motivation; Kirwan
emphasised that Ryan Fox the
person and Ryan Fox the golfer
were different people, and it was
important he have a life outside the
game.
“On tour, I think that’s what I
was struggling with, to find some-
thing to take my mind off it. In the
end, it was finding nice restaurants
with Anneke and TV series to
watch on Netflix to just zone out
completely.”
Finally, something clicked. At
the British Open in July, his game
and his head came together and he
finished in the top 16.
“I was at a pretty low point
up until the British Open. To be
honest, it was a surprise, there was
no reason for me to finish high
there. Sometimes golf is a funny
game like that, something clicks
and it all feels good again.”
The run through to the end of
the year saw his form recover, and
he ended the year winning the PGA
Tour of Australasia Order of Merit
(awarded to the highest earner
on the tour that year), giving him
entry to the British Open and to
World Golf Champions events in
Mexico and China this year.
“I have always found with golf
you just need to find something
that feels good. Last year, it did take
a long time to get that.”
This year the goals remain the
same: to win the New Zealand
Open and to make the world’s top- “And to win again on the Euro-
pean Tour. I got the taste last year,
and I’d certainly like to do it again.”
The Open by
the numbers
156
9
4
21
$1.
million
FREE
$252k
547m
127m
61
Ben Campbell
201718 strokes
Andrew Shaw,
Manawatū,
1930Aussie Peter
ThomsonKiwi Andrew
Shaw
1929-Number of
professional
players in this
year’s OpenMost
Open
winsLongest
winning
streakGate fee for
the public
for the 2020
OpenKiwis who
have won
the OpenTot al p riz e
fund for the
Open and
Pro-AmOpen
winner’s
prizeLongest
hole: The
Hills, hole 9Lowest Open
round on
MillbrookBiggest
winning
marginShortest
hole:
Millbrook,
hole 2Kirwan
emphasised
that Ryan
Fox the
person
and Ryan
Fox the
golfer were
different
people,
and it was
important
he have a
life outside
the game.
Safely out: Ryan
Fox recovered from
a form slump to
end 2019 on a high.
Opposite, teeing
off at the Dubai
Desert Classic last
month.