At a glance
Ryan Fox will tee off at 1.12am NZ time tomorrow in round one, and at 4.24am NZ time on Saturday in round two.
“I didn’t actually properly open that and I think we’ll put that in a frame at some point.
“It’s a pretty cool letter to get and I’m very honoured to have had it twice now.” famous golf tournament in 2024.
Fox will tee off in his first round looking for a change in form after missing the cut in five of the eight events he’s played so far this year on the PGA Tour, in addition to two full-weekend outings on the European Tour.
The highlight of his year so far has undoubtedly been a hole in one on the iconic 17th hole at The Players Championship last month – TPC Sawgrass’ famous island green – which came after another eagle on the 16th. Achieving both consecutively had never been done in the 50-year history of the tournament.
“Unfortunately, I kind of got a little virus on the Friday after that,” Fox said. “I didn’t feel great and played awful on Friday, but still walked off that week going, you know, that was really cool, just to have that experience.
“I’d like to have played a little bit better, but that’s something I can look back at, at the end of my career. That will certainly be a huge career highlight.”
Last weekend Fox played at the Valero Texas Open, where he recovered from being four-over after six holes to be three-under after 17, before bogeying the 18th in his first round.
No such recovery was possible in his second round, however, where he began with back-to-back double bogeys, then added a triple bogey on his way to finishing five-over and having the weekend off.
Now Fox has to try to find some form from somewhere as he returns to Augusta National, a course where he feels he has “some unfinished business ... after last year” when the tournament was hit hard by bad weather.
“I walked off the weekend with pneumonia and at this point I probably don't really remember much of what happened – I was just trying to get through it.
“So hopefully I can go there and enjoy it a bit more this year and soak it all in and stay away from getting sick.”