Fox in the hunt: Kiwi star keeps fatigue at bay
Ryan Fox’s body wants to shutdown into a deep, long sleep. But the 32-year-old won’t let it.
The jet-lagged Kiwi believes his New Zealand Open chances depend on it, after carding a three-under-par 68 at Arrowtown’s Millbrook yesterday.
He signed his card trailing clubhouse leader Zach Murray, a rookie pro from Victoria, by five strokes, before retiring to the massage table ahead of today’s second round at The Hills.
‘‘I’m pretty knackered now, to be honest. I just had a massage and I was about to fall asleep on the table. But I felt pretty good on the golf course, I woke up 10 minutes before my alarm this morning feeling pretty good,’’ Fox said.
Having only arrived in Arrowtown from Mexico on Wednesday morning after a 22-hour trip, the 32-year-old is determined to stay up until about 10pm, so his body doesn’t get out of whack.
‘‘I’m pretty knackered now, to be honest. I just had a massage and I was about to fall asleep on the table.’’
Ryan Fox
‘‘I think if I go to sleep now, I will be in big trouble,’’ Fox said.
Ranked 68th in the world, Fox opened with a birdie in chilly conditions, before adding three more to his scorecard. His only bogey was on the par-three 18th, after his tee shot sprayed left and barely missed the drink.
‘‘I probably would have preferred it in the water. I would have had less for bogey from dropping it than I probably did being left of the water.
‘‘I’ve been fighting the lefts a little bit the last couple of weeks . . . happy to get away with only making bogey there,’’ Fox said.
Fox was joined by fellow Kiwis Steven Alker and Daniel Pearce at three-under the card after their opening rounds. It was a good enough for a share of 12th when he spoke to media, but the leaderboard was likely to change by the time the late groups get in.
‘‘I let a few slip out there. But three-under is not bad looking overall at the leaderboard,’’ Fox said.
Murray looked anything but the rookie pro he is after his eight-under 63 opening round – his best since turning pro in
November – at Millbrook.
Murray could yet be caught by the late groups, but in the meantime was two shots clear of countryman Ashley Hall.
The 21-year-old didn’t miss a green, and rolled in eight birdies with his putter to exceed his father’s 54th birthday wish.
‘‘He messaged me [on Wednesday] night and said, ‘65 would be nice, considering I was born in 1965,’. I added a couple of years onto him today with 63. I spoke to him before quickly and he said he doesn’t mind. Happy birthday to dad, I suppose,’’ Murray said.
He was steady throughout his blemish-free round, which started after the frigid morning temperature prompted him to change his warm-up routine.
‘‘It was a strange warm-up for me. I hit about five balls and I was like, ‘I’m not going to get warm’. So I went and sat back in the pro shop and waited until the sun came out, and I hit a couple of putts and off I took.
‘‘I do that back home when I’m just playing with my mates, so I suppose I might have to do that more often.’’