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Sport Nation
'I was due some luck': Ryan Fox reflects on spectacular shot to clinch maiden PGA Tour win
Sport Nation • May 13th, 2025 10:30 am
Photo: DP World Tou
A touch over 24 hours removed from his sensational PGA Tour triumph at the Myrtle Beach Classic, Ryan Fox admits the magnitude of his maiden title win is yet to sink in.
It's been a whirlwind of congratulatory texts, media, and schedule adjustment since he raised the trophy at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club, culminating in an ad hoc road trip to Quail Hollow courtesy of the bonus ticket his win earned him to the PGA Championship.
Did we mention the hefty $1.2 million winners cheque?
Speaking from the passenger seat during the roughly 3.5 hour drive north-west to prepare for next week's major - wife at the wheel and his two daughters in the backseat - Fox confesses he's feeling slightly worse for wear after a long night.
"My brain was buzzing," Fox told Sport Nation's Scotty & Izzy.
"I didn't sleep very well and a decent skin full of red wine doesn't help that either.
And rightly so, given the almost outrageously clutch nature of his victory, where a 53-foot chip from the rough at the edge of the green in a four-way playoff for all the marbles dropped to seal the deal in unforgettable fashion.
"I felt like I was due some luck in the playoffs," Fox said.
"They haven't been overly kind to me over the years, so it was nice to get one to go my way.
"Honestly, I don't really know what happened. I'm not necessarily renowned too much for my short game, but it definitely came through there."
Reflecting on his thought process in the lead-up to the shot, Fox was at a loss to explain how he managed to get the greatest shot of his career to date to fall.
"I knew the other guys were in pretty tight or at least had good chances for birdie and I just wanted to give it a chance down the hill.
"I had a really similar putt and regulation on the same line and I had a good read on right where I wanted to hit it and that was it basically."
By his own admission, Fox's start to 2025 had been nothing less than underwhelming. He entered the tournament with his world ranking at No. 138 and without a Top-10 finish.
But as is often the case with golf, it only takes one golden performance to swing that momentum and endorse his own hunch that a great week out was just around the corner.
"It has been a bit of a scratchy last couple of years.I've had glimpses of it over in the States, but I certainly haven't shown what I did in Europe and '22 and '23 and it was nice to put it all together finally.
"I think my game was probably a bit closer to being really good than I probably thought it was.
"Every week you go out and you're trying to play your best and want to contend, it just doesn't happen very often, to be honest. Some weeks it works and this was a week it worked and it's nice to take advantage of it when it did."
The win also affords Fox also clinches him his PGA Tour card for the next two years, affording he and his young family some hugely valuable schedule certainty and job security.
"We weren't sure if we were going to be based over here, based at home, based in Europe. That's tough not knowing where you're going to be in that regard and just having two years over here.
"I don't know what we're going to do right now but at least we can make a plan knowing what my schedule is going to look like for the next two years."
The Aucklander will try to keep his momentum going at Quail Hollow next weekend, a course he's always enjoyed playing.
"I'm looking forward to it. I love Quail as a golf course. I played there in 2017 and played all right for three days and I'm now looking forward to tackling it again.
"We've got some pretty awful weather here again, which seems to be the recurring theme on the PGA Tour this year, but I think it just makes it a really brutal test of golf and that's kind of what you want for a major."
Listen to the full interview below:
