‘Exceptionally silly money’: Fox wary of Saudi rebel league

Ryan Fox admits he’s wary of golf’s rebel Saudi Arabian league as tensions mount in the golfing world.

The Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series, which starts next month, continues to cast a shadow over the sport, with defending PGA Championship winner Phil Mickelson announcing last week that he was withdrawing from the year’s second major.

Mickelson hasn’t played since February after making controversial comments supporting the rebel tour.

Ahead of the PGA Championship, which began overnight, Fox said he and many other players were staying cautious around the new competition, despite the “exceptionally silly” money behind it.

“The Saudi thing is a bit of a talking point for I think everyone in golf,” Fox told the Herald. “From the Tour’s point of view, [it’s] a very scary prospect. It’s a direct challenge to their business, and you can see why the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour [European Tour, which Fox plays on] have made the decisions that they’ve made to not release players.

“From a players’ point of view, it’s very strange. The money is exceptionally silly; a 48-man field playing for whatever it is, $25 million or something. That’s ridiculous. But I think a lot of players are very wary of it, I am,” Fox said.

“You don’t want to damage your reputation or damage your ability to play on tour for something that may or may not last very long.”

Fox’s form has been superb since returning from a two-month break after winning for the second time on Tour at the Ras Al Khaimah International in February. Two top-15 finishes in Spain were followed by a tie for eighth at the British Masters, which got him into the PGA Championship field. His ranking has since climbed from 106th to 90th after his result in Belgium.

Fox is now on the verge of qualifying for the US Open next month in Massachusetts.

He will play a sixth straight tournament next week in the Netherlands, in a bid to cement his spot at the third major of the year.

“I really like the course at the Dutch Open next week, so I’m going to play for the sixth week in a row. Then regardless of what happens, I’m going to take two weeks off. If I do get into the US Open obviously I don’t want to be physically and mentally drained going into that event. And I’m in a good place to qualify for that.”

It has been a long road for Fox, from facing the challenges of Covid in the last two years and ranking outside the top 200 to being in a position to potentially play in three majors in 2022. He’s looking forward to what’s ahead.

“Just to be talking about potentially playing two or three majors this year and crack the top 100 in the world, all that is extra stuff you want.”