Fox: Golf ‘nicer’ than rugby

Red-hot Ryan Fox has no regrets about giving up rugby for golf after ‘‘too many concussions’’ convinced him to abandon his All Black father’s chosen career.

Fox – the son of former test first five-eighths and current All Blacks selector Grant Fox – scored the biggest pay day of his golf career last week with a $1.1 million runner-up cheque at the Irish Open.

He’s also in contention for another – in a six-way tie for second place with the final round to go this morning at the Scottish Open.

Fox told The Guardian newspaper at the Scottish Open course at the Gullane Golf Club that he gave up rugby after ‘‘four or five serious concussions’’ at school.

‘‘I love rugby but in the end I caught the golf bug and I’m sure most golfers can attest to that. Once you catch the bug it’s pretty hard to think of anything else. I think it’s been a pretty good decision.

‘‘I have to say it’s a lot nicer being a golfer than it was being a rugby player,’’ he said. ‘‘I used to hear: ‘Let’s smash Fox’s kid’ a lot, and that wasn’t overly fun especially when some of the boys you play would be 110 kilos and strong and fast. That really wasn’t fun.’’

Fox said he was ‘‘proud of what Dad did in his career’’ but it had been ‘‘nice the last couple of years to forge my own path a little bit’’.

He acknowledged his father’s status in New Zealand sport meant he ‘‘probably got a lot more press coverage at home’’.

Fox was born in 1987 – the year his father helped the All Blacks win the first Rugby World Cup – and said some of his dad’s goal kicking disciplines also applied in golf.

‘‘I think there’s a lot of similarity between golf and goal kicking,’’ he told

‘‘It’s very target-based, very routine-based and it’s static.

‘‘There’s not many other sports where you’ve got to try to kick a stationary ball. So I certainly learned a lot from him, maybe a lot by osmosis in terms of process, hearing him talk about what he did or how he would go about hitting a shot when I first started.’’

Fox’s maternal grandfather Merv Wallace was a former New Zealand test cricket captain.

The golfer turned professional in 2012 and made his mark on the European Challenge Tour with two victories before stepping up to the main European Tour.

Going into the Scottish Open, Fox was 13th in the overall tour season standings with earnings of $2.2 million.

He was delighted with his third round effort after making the cut by two strokes at the half way stage.