Fox leads hunt

Kiwi golfer Ryan Fox reeled off five birdies and an eagle on the back nine to take the first-round lead at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa yesterday and boost his hopes of overtaking Rory McIlroy in the European Tour rankings . Fox opened his challenge at Sun City with an 8-under 64 for a one-shot lead over England’s Luke Donald. McIlroy isn’t playing in the penultimate tournament of the season and a victory would put Fox top of the rankings ahead of next week’s season-ending World Tour Championship in Dubai. Fox made three straight birdies on the 9th, 10th and 11th and then added an eagle at 14th, a 600-yard par 5. He set himself up for that eagle with a 243-yard second shot with a 7-iron to within four feet. He made two more birdies on his last two holes and is very much in the running for a third win on the tour this year.