Fox inside top 10 after testing second round
Ryan Fox headed into the weekend at the Masters in a tie for eighth after “one of the hardest days” he’s had on a golf course.
The Kiwi World No 54 made the cut for just the fifth time in his last nine tournaments and the second time in his last five after shooting two-over in his second round at Augusta National Golf Club yesterday morning (NZ time).
That left him one-under at the end of a day where gusting winds threw up plenty of challenges and only eight players had under-par rounds – including co-leader at six-under Max Homa.
Fox began by making par on each of the first seven holes, before birdieing the par-five eighth. He made an eagle on the eighth during his three-under opening round and only just missed out on another as his first putt slid to the left.
The back nine was particularly troublesome as a result of the high winds, and so it proved for Fox, who bogeyed the par-four 11th, the par-three 12th and the par-four 14th to drop to one-under. He had opportunities for birdies on the parfive 15th, where he missed to the left; the par-three 16th, where his first putt from off the green left him with a two-footer for par; and the par-four 17th, where he hit the flagstick with a chip.
On the 18th, his second shot left him in the left-hand bunker, where he chipped to within three feet before making the easy par putt.
“I’m knackered now,” Fox said after he walked off the course. “That's got to be one of the hardest days I've had on a golf course. It was so hard to pick what (the wind) was going to do, whether it was helping, hurting. Obviously we had some huge gusts out there, and there's some really intimidating shots.
“The par-fives on the back nine with the second, third shot straight into the wind – you're so worried about potentially
spinning it back in the water, and all of a sudden you hit it long and it's downwind and you can chip the next one in the water. I got lucky on 12 to not go in the water, but the rest of the day, tee to green, I played great. I just struggled on the greens today, couldn't get the lines right with the wind. I hit a couple of bad putts today, as well, but with how hard it was today, I don't think 74 was a bad score.”
Fox said that after “a pretty testing couple of days” he was hoping for “nowhere near as much” wind in his two final rounds where he will be looking to improve on his tie for 26th in his first Masters appearance a year ago.
“The golf course really got some teeth today, as well, with it firming up in that wind. I'm sure it'll still be tough on the weekend, but it'll certainly be nice to play with no wind, and I'm pretty chuffed to play the weekend. It's been a pretty rough ride lately, and I tried to enjoy it as much as I could out there and hit some good shots and felt like most parts of the game were actually starting to work again.”
Fox will be trying to join Frank Nobilo – who finished fourth in 1996 – as the second Kiwi to finish in the top 10 at the Masters.
The last Kiwi to finish in the top 10 at a men’s golf major was Michael Campbell in 2005, the same year he won the US Open.