Kiwi golfer Ryan Fox joins Martin Devlin on It’s Only Sport, recapping his recent outing at the Masters at Augusta. Fox competed in his second Masters and 19th major overall, finishing in a tie for 38th at seven over par. There was a point during the opening round where Fox was the outright leader.
He chats with Devlin about why he’s currently in Quebec, his Masters performance, how he managed to perform so well on one of the toughest courses on the globe when his form was mixed to start 2024, and more.
Listen to the full interview with Martin Devlin & Ryan Fox at https://theplatform.kiwi/
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divin you’ve got to love sports the
platform Ryan Fox online with
us hey mate what are you doing in
Quebec I am getting I got us visas
sorted in otta in the last couple of
days and we couldn’t be asked flying
anywhere for 4 days so we’re up in the
hills in Quebec and some rural town
called Mont Trant okay or something it’s
got to be French I mean so you practice
your T to two were in Paris together
mate we met there for the World Cup
final so you should be able to speak a
little
lingo uh not me my wife speaks a little
bit but yeah definitely not me but it’s
nice to just chill for a bit I played
five weeks in a row um so yeah nice to
have just a week off look you know I’ve
been thinking about about it and it’s
not like it’s keeping me awake at night
mate but I’ve been thinking about you
and with the family on tour and
everything and two little kids and just
the logistics that’s involving you know
book in the airb I know you have you
know people that take care of the
secretarial stuff for you and that but
it’s just the traveling the moving the
picking up all the kids stuff into the
car all of that kind of thing at the
same time you’re trying to win a Masters
Golf Tournament is it an easy juggle or
not at the
moment um I mean we’ve got a system for
it I definitely don’t think it’s easy
but it’s manageable um you know the
there’s a uh transport guy on tour and
we’ve got two boxes full of stuff with
him plus he takes a spare suitcase with
all our extra clothing plus my golf
clubs most weeks as well so that makes
it a little bit easier but yeah we’re
still lugging three or four suitcases
around a bunch of carry on prams car
seats or you name it um you pretty much
running we run a courtesy car from the
PJ tour and a rental car every week um
yeah it’s pretty hectic but yeah I don’t
know there’s not really another way to
do it at the moment and there’s plenty
other guys on tour that do it the same
way um they’ve got a base in the US so
it makes it probably a little bit easier
but they’re still lugging the same
amount of crap around so it just it is
what it is we’re at that stage in our
lives where you know it’s never going to
be easy with two young kids no matter
what happens I’m either going to be away
and missing a whole bunch of stuff or
travel’s going to be travel’s going to
be hard so at the moment it’s just the
travel’s hard and then golf’s been hard
on top of that which probably hasn’t
helped things yeah you you’ll never
regret it mate you look back and I think
that you know being a father myself and
I’m sure that your dad has said this to
you as well that you know you always
think okay well if I could just focus on
work or concentrate on work but then 10
years later you’re going to sit there
and think God I wish I’d spent more time
with my kids you know so you know can I
say you’re doing the right thing I I
mean I you know don’t want to intrude
but I’d like to pass it
on yeah like I feel like we’re doing the
right thing it’s been great traveling
with the family we’ve had some great
experiences and ones that I’ll never
forget and I’ve certainly had some good
results with them on the road I just
think the start of the year over here
with everything being new and then
trying to do that with the family has
been hard whereas you know I think if it
was through Europe and we know where to
stay and what’s going on the logistics
get a little bit easier I think the
logistics part of it been harder this
year especially without visas now that’s
sorted that should be a little bit
easier to work out and you know it’s got
easier the last couple of months it’s
just you know we sort of had to hit the
ground running and I’m not sure we did
that well both on the golf course or off
the golf course Ryan Fox with us tied
for 38th at the Masters mate and look he
had a couple of absolute cracking rounds
had some beautiful shots I mean you’re
leading the tournament at one stage
there at the very start of the weekend
if I’d asked you the question and said
if you’d take a top 50 you probably
would have said yes but at the same time
I know that you’ll be feeling really
disappointed at the end of that because
it was you you you were right there up
until the you know the day of of to the
weekend I
mean yeah look it was one of those weeks
if you’d have given me how I played
beforehand with the little form I had
had and how little confidence I had
going in I certainly would have taken it
and
then I actually felt really good out on
the golf course which was a nice change
um I played the easily the best golf
I’ve played all year um on no doubt the
hardest Golf Course we’ve played all
year especially you know Thursday was
pretty brutal in the wind but the at
least the greens were soft then Friday
was just as nasty as it gets you know a
bunch of guys were quoted saying that’s
as hard as I’ve ever seen gust to play
and I played really good the first two
days and um Saturday Sunday the golf
course was baked out we had a bit of
breeze on Saturday as well and um you I
felt like I played really well and left
a bunch out there and then you know had
a break on 17 that you know kind of
pricked the balloon a little bit you
know I thought I had a really good shot
in there looking like making three it
had probably a chance of making two and
all of a sudden hit the flag and walk
off for seven and had a bit of a brain
explosion down the last made bogey as
well and it’s that kind of deflated me a
little bit was killed the momentum and
then again on Sunday went out and played
great got off to a really good start and
didn’t quite have things go my way on
the back nine which seemed to be the
trend for the week and you know I’m
standing on the 15th with a three-footer
for birdie to go one under for the day
and you know at that stage is probably
looking like you know finishing in the
top 20 or close to it and then I missed
that and and double seven and bogey 18
and kind of walk off going I’ve shot
three over and felt like I played
actually really well and it was a
frustrating week but in a good way I
felt like there was a lot of good out
there and you know with a little bit of
luck a couple of yards here and there on
a bunch of shots a lot of scores could
have been a lot of the scores could have
been a lot better and while I feel like
I might not have been able to get to 11
under and challenge Scotty Schiffer I
certainly thought I played well enough
to get to the top five and that’s that
that was a nice nice feeling to walk
away from the week with even though the
result wasn’t quite
there that guy I mean I just want some
emotion from him I mean he just he’s
just you know so calm he’s almost asleep
isn’t he but you know when youve played
the last four tournaments Ryan I know
you know this mate I mean he’s won three
out of four and he lost in the playoff
in the other one he’s just playing
metronomic golf isn’t he what was some
crazy thing like he hasn’t had a sub
hasn’t had an overpower round the whole
year or something
crazy yeah I mean I’ve played
three of the four tournaments that he’s
play that he’s done well in the last
four weeks I didn’t play Bay Hill but
I’ve played I played Bay Hill last year
and to go out and shoot 66 in the final
round of Bay Hill on a brutal Golf
Course shoot I think he shot 64 the
final round of the players to win and
that’s a brutal Golf Course um you he
was 5 foot away from being in the
playoff in in Houston I think he missed
a five-footer to get in the playoff and
then obviously what he did you know 68
on Sunday the Masters under all that
pressure is seriously impressive um he
just doesn’t miss a shot he makes great
decisions his short gamees Immaculate
when he when he misses a green he makes
it look really easy and the only
question mark up until the last four
weeks has probably been his Putter and
that hasn’t really mattered too much in
the last few weeks he’s
been it’s been serviceable I don’t think
he’s been the best putter out there but
when you hit it as well as he has it
doesn’t really matter he’s you know made
the puts that mattered and yeah it looks
like he’s going to be pretty hard to
beat yeah God I mean it’s just it was
just amazing watching him didn’t he he
just destroyed that Golf Course the
thing that got me mate was on the second
day watching the the bunkers and the
sandstorm coming up from it is that the
windiest you’ve ever played
in I don’t think it’s the windiest I
mean we’ve had a couple of rounds in
Scotland that have been probably worse
but I think the hardest thing with
Augusta is swirls through the pine trees
um and it was really Gusty as well that
day
