Fox shows he has major chops at PGA
RYAN Fox has carded the thirdlowest round of the PGA Championship to catapult up the leaderboard in the second round of the year’s final major, at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Kiwi golfer had six birdies and a bogey to shoot five-under 66 after a morning tee-off, jumping from a share of 80th to a share of 11th in the second round, which didn’t quite finish yesterday due to inclement weather.
After a four-over 75 in the first round, Fox climbed to one-under for the tournament and is seven shots behind American Kevin Kisner, who carded a second successive four-under 67, and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, who usurped Fox with the lowest round of the tournament.
Matsuyama carded a sevenunder 64, as did Italian Francesco Molinari, who lies fourth, a shot behind third-placed Jason Day.
Fox’s 66 was the low round of the tournament till that point, and comprised four birdies on the front nine and a further two, plus a lone bogey on the par-four 11th, on the inward nine.
‘‘It was just one of those days. I got everything going,’’ Fox told Radio Sport.
‘‘I got my arse kicked a little bit yesterday on my back nine. It’s a pretty tough golf course if you’re not in the fairway.
‘‘I managed to hit in the fairway today for the most part and gave myself a lot of chances. It was nice to see a few putts go in and nice to be here and have a chance on the weekend.’’
The Kiwi said his dramatic turnaround came down fairly and squarely to just tightening his game off the tee.
‘‘The golf course is an absolute brute this week. You don’t really have too much choice, you just get GETTY IMAGES driver out and hope you hit it straight.
‘‘Yesterday I struggled with that but I sort of found something in my last couple of tee shots and took that into today and drove it a lot better and gave myself some pretty good looks and took advantage of it.’’
The other New Zealander in the field, Danny Lee, will miss the cut after a horror second round, carding a seven-over 78 to follow a five-over 76 in the first round.