Fox doesn’t cut it at Open
New Zealand Open favourite Ryan Fox can forget about winning the tournament he’s desperate to win for at least another year.
The 33-year-old top-ranked Kiwi missed the cut on the back of an ugly four-over-par 75 at the Millbrook Resort in Arrowtown yesterday, leaving him a whopping 13 shots behind South Korean leader Joohyung Kim.
Fox flirted with the projected cut all day after making a double-bogey on the par-three second. He mixed four bogeys with two birdies the rest of the way around to finish two-over for the tournament, a couple of shots beyond the cut line.
Just a couple of days after arriving from Mexico, where he finished in a share of 29th at the World Golf Championship, Fox was not helped by swirling and unpredictable winds for a second straight day.
But while Fox’s week is kaput, there are a bunch of Kiwis in contention leading into the final two rounds.
Tauranga golfer Kieran Muir is the leading the way heading into the weekend at Millbrook, where he fired a sixunder 65 yesterday to improve to eightunder the card, three shots behind Kim in a share of fifth place.
Harry Bateman and Michael Hendry looked set to be the leading New Zealanders, before Muir got hot late in his round and propelled himself up the leaderboard.
Muir finished with an eagle on the 324m par-four 16th, followed by a couple of birdies to rocket into contention before the wind picked up in the afternoon.
Bateman and Hendry, who shot a six-under 66 at The Hills yesterday, are one stroke back in a share of seventh, alongside a bunch of Australians.
To think 2017 champion Hendry said he putted ‘‘quite poorly’’, ruing up to 12 missed birdie opportunities when he spoke to media shortly after his round.
But the 40-year-old is very much in contention with fine conditions forecast at Millbrook, where three years ago he snapped a 14-year drought by becoming the first Kiwi to win the
Brodie Breeze Trophy since Dunedin’s Mahal Pearce.
‘‘It’s probably a bit early at this stage,’’ Hendry said when asked if he was feeling a 2017 vibe.
‘‘If the weather calms down, which it looks like it might do over the weekend, it does become a bit of a putting contest. If my putter gets hot, maybe I’ll be a chance, but I’ll worry about that closer to the 16th hole on Sunday.’’
Having taken a one-stroke lead into yesterday’s round, 17-year-old Kim is in the box seat after he shot a four-under 68 at The Hills to improve to 11-under
the card.
Projected to be a future star on the world stage, Kim will go into the weekend with a target on his back.
‘‘Obviously, I’m in the lead halfway through, but there’s so many big names just one, two strokes away. Those guys, when it comes to intense moments, they always deliver,’’ he said.
Australian Ben Eccles, an alternate who only received word he was in the 156-strong field on Wednesday morning, is outright-second, one shot back after also carding 68 at The Hills.
One of three players who went into the day at six-under, it’s fair to say he further took advantage of the opportunity granted by Indian S Chikarangappa’s visa related withdrawal.
Eccles started with an eagle and a pair of birdies to promptly move to 10-under. He went on to rattle in 10 consecutive pars, including one on the 503m par-five 17th, where he drained a monster 35-foot putt.
‘‘The rough is up this year, which is going to make it pretty interesting over the weekend. You’ve really got to take advantage of par fives, which is something I’ve done the last two days with a couple of eagles and a birdie,’’ he said.