Shot, bro: Fox’s perfect wedge
Ryan Fox won’t soon forget his ace on the 17th at TPC Sawgrass. One of golf’s most iconic holes, with a full gallery watching in the first round of The Players Championship, Fox hit a perfect three-quarter gap wedge and got a perfect result.
“It’s pretty cool to have that one on the career highlight reel,” he told the Herald.
“Over the course of a year or a couple of years, you hit a lot of shots where you go ‘oh, this has got a chance’ and they don’t really go close. It was cool to have one land, go ‘oh this has got a chance’ then actually see it disappear.”
“It was a good shot as well, which is always nice for a hole in one. You always feel like if you’ve hit a bad shot, you’ve cheated one a little bit, whereas that was the exact shot I was trying to hit.”
Not only did Fox score an ace at one of golf’s most iconic holes, he also made history as the first player to score back-to-back eagles during The Players Championship as he scored a three on the parfive 16th as well.
Things changed ahead of his second round, however as he woke up with a virus which heavily impacted his performance.
After finishing three-under par for his first round, he went fourover in his second and missed the cut by two shots — his third missed cut of the season.
“I had a couple-hour nap in the morning on Friday, which I never do before the afternoon tee time. I just didn’t feel right, had a red rash on my hands and feet — it was a very weird scenario and that’s not a golf course you want to play when you don’t feel 100 per cent,” Fox said.
“I just felt strange the whole day — dizzy, light-headed, my hands were red and sore, feet were red and sore. I’m not trying to make excuses, it was just one of those very weird scenarios.
“It was just a case of bad timing. If it had hit on Monday. it wouldn’t have mattered too much but just the fact it hit on Friday and Saturday, it had a massive bearing on what happened for the week for me.”
Fox saw a doctor the day after his second round and was told he had a virus, but would start to come right after a couple of days.
That proved to be the case as, after spending the early days of this week resting, recovering and not touching his clubs, he was back on the greens on Wednesday (NZT) for a practice round ahead of this week’s Valspar Championship at Copperhead Course in Florida, which gets under way today.
“I wouldn’t say [I’m] 100 per cent, but I’m feeling a whole lot better than Friday, Saturday last week. The doctor was bang on with what he said,” Fox said.
“I was a bit tired out on the golf course when I played 18 in a practice round today, but managed to get through it and I don’t think I could’ve done that a couple of days ago. Hopefully by Thursday afternoon [local time] when I tee off I’ll be as close to 100 as I can be.”