Ryan Fox Is Playing a 'Dream Schedule' Now, But Hoping to Make It Routine

The New Zealander is playing in his first Players Championship, among other firsts, but hopes to play well enough to secure full-time Tour status.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Ryan Fox is playing in his first Players Championship, a week after he played in his first Arnold Palmer Invitational and weeks before he will drive down Magnolia Lane for his first Masters.

After a year that included two victories and two runner-up finishes on the DP World Tour, the 36-year-old moved into the top 50 from outside the top 200 at the beginning of the year.

That move up the rankings opened the doors to access to both the four majors and numerous PGA Tour events including the Players and Memorial.

“I've got literally the dream schedule,” Fox said on the eve of his first round of the Players, where he'll be paired with Peter Malnati and Jhonattan Vegas. “I mean, it's a schedule that I probably never thought I would have.”

After a successful fall 2022, where Fox won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, finished T4 at the Mallorca Golf Open and second at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa, the Kiwi has not recorded a top 10 since mid-November.

But in the last three events, Fox has shown some life with a T11 at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship, T17 at the Singapore Classic and a T14 at the Arnold Palmer that included a final-round 5-under 67.

“The biggest adjustments, probably the golf courses,” Fox said of difference playing on the PGA Tour versus the DP World Tour. “I've only played a couple of PGA Tour events. So, I probably don't have a great sample size to take from but we don't really get the rough that you get this week or last week very often. And we've probably got a few courses that would be as tough as this or last week.“

Fox is using his time on the Tour to see if he is going to make the U.S. his second mailing address, with New Zealand always his home address.

Of course, some of this is putting the cart before the horse.

Fox must take advantage of his time on the PGA Tour in 2023 to make the Tour his place to play in 2024.

“The U.S. has one long-haul flight closer than then what Europe is,” Fox said of one of the big advantages of having a base in the U.S. “It's two 12-hour flights from the U.K. to New Zealand and it's sort of one in a transfer. So yeah, it'll be a bit easier to go home upon based over here. But yeah, we'll see. I've got to play a lot of decent golf to get to that point.”