Ryan is the latest member to keep his family’s amazing sporting tradition alive
FEW golfers at The Open can have quite the same sporting pedigree as New Zealand’s Ryan Fox.
His father, Grant, was the All Blacks fly-half when they won the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987. And his maternal grandfather, Merv Wallace, was a former captain of the New Zealand cricket team.
Ryan’s childhood saw him try his hand at both sports, before he eventually turned to golf.
“Cricket was my game,” Fox admitted. “I played that and rugby growing up. I was a flyhalf like my dad, but I stopped when I left school.
“I played a year of men’s cricket, but I didn’t particularly like it.
“I was a batsman, but my problem was T20 cricket arrived a few years too late. If that had come along earlier, things might have been different!
“At that point, I played golf off two, thought I would try tournament golf and absolutely loved it. It’s turned out to be a pretty good decision.”
This is Fox’s second Open, having made his debut at St Andrews two years ago, where he finished in a tie for 49th, while he represented New Zealand in the Olympics last summer.
He’s having an excellent debut season on the European Tour where top-10 finishes in the Rolex Series events in France, Ireland and Scotland have pushed him into the top 15 on the Race to Dubai.
During the recent Lions tour of New Zealand, rugby chat was never far from the lockerroom, and Fox revealed: “After a couple of the warm-up games and the first Test, I dished it out.
“But I got all of it back and plenty more affer the second Test.
“I didn’t cop too much after the last match because no one knew how to react to a draw!”
STEWART CINK had to give up one of the special privileges of being an Open Champion last year when his wife, Lisa, was diagnosed with breast cancer.
He missed Troon last year and only returned to golf when his wife was well enough to travel with him to tournaments. Seeing what she went through has changed Cink’s attitude to golf.
A renewed determination to take on the game’s young guns sees him on course for his best season on the PGA Tour for seven years.
“The bogeys and three-putts still hurt as bad as ever, but I have watched my wife go through the fight of her life,” said Cink.
“So maybe I have a bit more to fight for in golf, too. I’m not facing a health crisis, but I thought there was more I could do to fight for my career.
“I’m 44 and it’s not getting any easier. But I’ve learned a little about how to go about fighting.
“I decided to change a few things to try to get more out of my golf and treat it in a more business-like way.
“That has paid off with better form this year, so that has been fun.”
Cink was also touched by the support he has received from his fellow players.
“We spend a lot of time on tour trying to beat each other’s brains in but we’re almost like relatives,” he said.
“The wives have rallied around Lisa and a lot of the players have been supportive.
“Sometimes it might only be a pat on the shoulder but that’s all it takes to show they care.”
GOLF has begun again at 50 for Paul Broadhurst.
The Englishman has been playing in his first Open for five years on the back of winning the Senior Open at Carnoustie, a title he will defend at Royal Porthcawl this week.
It was also a passport to the lucrative PGA Tour Champions in America, and the 1991 Ryder Cup player has already earned more than £300,000 this year.
“It has opened my eyes because there are a lot of really good players,” he admitted.
“Bernhard Langer is like an absolute machine and Kenny Perry still hits it 320 yards off the tee.
“Normally, if you finish above Bernhard, you have a great chance of winning. But the couple of times I’ve done that have been the weeks when he hasn’t played well!
“This is my chance to build up a pension fund and I want to make the most of it for the next four or five years.
“These are guys that I had admired from afar but never really had the chance to compete against.
“If I hadn’t won at Carnoustie, I would still be on the European Seniors Tour and you can’t compare the money on offer between the two.”