Fox gives up MIQ spaces to stay in Europe
AUCKLAND: Ryan Fox has made the agonising decision to give up the managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) spots he had secured for him and his family and remain in Europe for the remainder of the European Tour season.
The New Zealand No 1 had vouchers booked for September 15 and intended on returning to Auckland if he had done enough to guarantee he would retain his card for next season.
However, missing the cut at last week’s Italian Open in Rome has led to Fox slipping seven spots to 97th in the tour standings with the top 115 at the end of the season assured of full playing status.
Fox (34) will instead switch his focus to trying to finish the season strongly over the next couple of months and qualify for the seasonending Dubai World Championship, featuring the top 60 players in the tour standings, on November 1821.
He admits fretting over the decision on whether to return home affected his form in Italy last week, where he finished 8 over par and missed the cut.
‘‘It was a frustrating week all round and was probably not helped by putting too much pressure on myself around trying to get home and worrying about MIQ spots and all that stuff.
‘‘Hopefully the decision to stay sort of frees me up a little bit this week and in the coming weeks and I’m not worrying about that stuff as much.’’
The BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth starting tomorrow night (NZ time) is the flagship European Tour event and carries US$8 million in prize money.
Fox is hoping now he has made the decision to stay put, he will be able to play without distraction.
‘‘We’re going to stay regardless, and I would like to get into Dubai at the end of the year and I’ve obviously got a fair bit of work to do for that.
‘‘I have seven events left in our season, including Wentworth, so we’re going to stay until the end of the year and take the gamble that hopefully we can get an MIQ spot at the end of the year.’’
However, the reality is with vouchers scarce, and a new lobby system created that involves people being chosen randomly, Fox is not overly hopeful of getting home.
‘‘I think we kind of have a bestcase, middlecase and worstcase scenario going on in that regard.
‘‘Obviously, the best case would be getting home before Christmas and the worst case would be being over here and I’m not really sure what middle cases at the moment, but I think we’re lucky in the fact that I have a lot of events to play up until November.’’
In the event he cannot get home, he is hopeful the European Tour will announce additional events at the start of the 2022 season to be played before the end of the year.
Fox has struggled at Wentworth over the years but draws confidence from finishing in a tie for 20th there last year. —