Ryan Fox claims biggest title with gutsy BMW PGA win
Ryan Fox – holds aloft his 4th DP World Tour trophy – image Getty Images
New Zealand’s Ryan Fox emerged from an intriguing final day battle at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in Surrey to win his most significant title to date and, by some way, the biggest cheque in his career.
The event, essentially the flagship event of the DP World Tour, carried first prizemoney of €1.435 million, and, having finished runner-up to Rory McIlroy in last year’s Race to Dubai DP World Tour rankings, the 37-year-old now finds himself in third place behind McIlroy and Jon Rahm despite spending much of his schedule in the US in 2023.
A seven-foot putt at the 72nd hole from 100 metres or so after laying up with his second to the par 5, saw Fox defeat Aaron Rai and Tyrell Hatton by one shot, the victory made even more meritorious given he overcame near disaster at his 3rd hole of the day after a wild drive finished out of bounds and led to a triple bogey.
Fox’s year has been one of adapting to a schedule which includes a lot more golf in the US and a lot of travel due to family illness issues and the birth of his second child, but, while this was just his second top ten of the year, he has missed only two cuts in now 19 starts, continuing a great run of consistency
Fox who finished 3rd in last week’s Horizon Irish Open to record his first top ten of the year, was able to produce eight birdies following the early setback and even a two-hour weather delay in the middle of his round could not stop the momentum as he fought off several of the game’s hottest players.
Fox, who has now won four DP World Tour titles in addition to six runner-up finishes, was still in shock after his win as he faced a packed media room.
“I certainly didn’t think I would be talking to you after the third hole today,” said the champion. “I don’t really know what to think at the moment to be honest. I’ve always struggled a little bit around here. I’ve maybe snuck one top 20 and bearable struggled to make any cuts around here.
“To have a back nine like that, especially after how I started the day, yeah, it’s amazing. I played great. Pretty much didn’t miss a shot from the third hole onwards and saw a couple of putts go in and it was pretty cool feeling on the last to sort of know I had one to win and actually make it.”
Fox explained how he was able to overcome the early triple bogey which saw him drop back to 10 under and fall several shots off the lead.
“To be honest I’ve been working with Kyle Morris (mental coach) for a little while and it’s just trying to beat the golf course. That’s what we did all of last year and that’s what we tried to do this year. Pretty much go back to whatever shot is in front of me.”
As for the manner in which he played the last, knowing he needed a birdie to win Fox would say;
“I knew I needed to make birdie. I kind of made the decision from my lie that I could not go at the second shot. It was sitting down just a little bit and figured I’ve been wedging it really good the last few days and give myself a good number in there, a hundred meters.
“I had a similar shot a couple years ago and it’s actually a pin that you can get to. You can use the slope and that’s what I did. I hit the exact shot I wanted to and you know, just kind of the putt was just get it rolling and it was pretty straight and thankfully I managed to get it online.”
Fox is listed to play this coming week’s French Open at le Golf National.
Adam Scott also had a good week when he overcame an early double bogey and consecutive bogeys early in his back nine to finish five shots from Fox and in a share of 7th with amongst others Rory McIlroy whose last round of 65 was the best of the day, while Min Woo Lee was the next best of the Australians when he finished in a share of 14th two shots behind Scott.
