Just under a month since he captured his maiden PGA TOUR title at the Ryan Fox has done it again with a second victory at the RBC Canadian Open, following a dramatic 4-hole playoff in Toronto.
Ryan, you said it took you a while to settle in here on the PGA TOUR, but now it’s taken just four weeks and four playoff holes here, and you’re now a two-time winner out here. What did it take to get this one done?
It was tough. I hit some great shots down the stretch in regulation. Probably got a little lucky on that putt on 18 in regulation, snuck in the left door.
To be honest, Sam and I had a bit of a pillow fight there for three holes. It was some pretty average golf from both of us, some average putting. But that shot I hit on 18 with the 3-wood was probably the best shot I ever hit. It would have been nice to make it, but hey, I’ll take it.
Can you put it into perspective? It’s your second victory on Tour in a month, you’re in the U.S. Open next week. Your career’s on a high. Your head must be spinning a little bit right now.
It feels like yesterday we’re doing this at Myrtle Beach. I played the PGA and Memorial since then and seem to be making a habit of getting into majors last minute, which is not a bad problem to have.
Yeah, my head’s spinning. Obviously I knew I was playing good golf coming into this week. Just wanted to give myself a chance come Sunday afternoon. I did that and was really happy with how I conducted myself today. I was really patient early. Felt like I wasn’t quite there. As I said, I hit some great shots down the stretch to get into that playoff.
Anything can happen, and I was lucky enough it fell my way.
Q. Did you know on the second playoff hole — I kind of lost track — could you see that your ball had not gone into the water, the one when you went for it? Did that make you hesitate at all to go for it again on the shot that ended up winning the tournament?
I knew by the crowd reaction it hadn’t gone in the water. I kind of heard cheers, and I figured they probably shouldn’t cheer if it had gone in the water. I figured it was probably a boo or something.
I knew I got lucky there. I probably shouldn’t have taken that shot on. It was sitting down a little bit, but I had a pretty good number with 3-wood to get there. I feel like in a playoff you’ve kind of got to take shots on.
The second time around, it was an easier decision. I like hitting a cut. I had a bit more room around that tree — I didn’t have the tree visual in my way like I had the first time around. I had the exact shot I wanted to hit. I wasn’t sure in the air if it was going to be a little short or perfect. I didn’t actually see it land. It was getting a bit hazy out there. Obviously by the crowd reaction I knew it was pretty good.
As I said to Mark, probably the best shot I ever hit in my life given the circumstances.
Q. How much did it mean to you to have members of the All Whites in attendance to cheer you on, especially given your family’s history representing New Zealand internationally?
That was really cool. They had a great one against the Ivory Coast last night. Mark can probably tell you more than I can about the game. I was trying to get my kids to bed.
To have the Kiwi support out there, it was great. They were there all day. We seem to have a lot of weeks where random Kiwis pop up, and to have the All Whites say, hey, is there any chance we can come out and watch on Sunday was really cool. To be able to meet them all there at the end and get a photo with them was pretty special. Hopefully that buoys them on a little bit for their game against Ukraine on Tuesday.
Q. As a follow-up, what’s your mental approach to a playoff? Obviously you’re pretty good at them.
If you’d have seen any of the ones I had in Europe, you wouldn’t say that. I didn’t have a great record in Europe in playoffs. I feel like you’ve got to take it on a little bit. It becomes match play. You kind of want to put the pressure on your opponent a little bit.
That’s why I took that shot on on the second playoff hole and obviously why I took it on again on the fourth. I think Sam’s going to be a little bit gutted. He probably felt like he let that slip a little bit, especially the first playoff hole, but you need a little bit of luck in this game as well, and I was very lucky in that regard.
Very happy in the end that I took that shot on on 18 and hit the shot I hit. As I said, probably the greatest shot I’ve ever hit. Especially with a 3-wood into a par-5 over water, it doesn’t really get too much better than that.
Q. One of your three top 10s from last year came at the Canadian Open, obviously a different golf course, different year of course. I’m curious what this year, this win at a National Open really means to you?
I haven’t quite had a chance to process that yet, but it’s such an iconic tournament, so much history here. To get my name on that trophy is amazing. I remember watching it years ago when I was playing on the Aussie Tour and thinking it looked like a really awesome event.
To get a chance to play in it and have a couple good weeks last year and this year — obviously this year is a little better — is amazing. To see some of the names that are on that trophy and to have my name on it is amazing.
Q. One of the things that a lot of people talked about, and it was very easy to see today, is your pace of play is aspirational. You kind of just see the shot and you go. Have you always been that way?
My brain always works fast. I do everything fast. Whether that’s good or bad, I don’t know.
For me, I’m not saying golf’s simple, but picking a shot is simple. I generally hit a cut. I see the window. I see what I want to hit pretty quickly. Unless it’s really windy and gusty, it’s going to be between one or two clubs. For me it’s pick a target and hit it. The less time I give myself — the less chance I give myself to think about it probably the better.
Q. I’m just wondering if you knew that a hole location could change on the same playoff hole? Then was that hole, did it seem a little more inviting to you from the fairway?
RYAN FOX: I didn’t know it could change until they told us driving up, but I think that’s quite cool, obviously, to — it can be a little frustrating as a fan to see the same stuff over and over again.
I think it probably made going at the green a little easier. It’s probably 10, 15 yards shorter there, and you’ve got a little less of the water to have to cover. It also brings in the other stuff, like it’s a harder wedge shot in there. I think the back pin, it all kind of feeds in there. Added a little bit of drama to it.
Yeah, it did make it a little more inviting on that front side to have a go at, and kind of glad I pulled the shot off I did.
Q. There was no problem for you and your caddie getting the number in and all that stuff?
No, they gave us an updated pin sheet and re-warned us again that they’re changing the pin. You could see it, when we’re walking down 18 for the third time, they were still changing the pin as we were kind of hitting our second shot. I think it was a cool idea to do.
Q. Congratulations. I wonder what it feels like kind of mentally and physically to keep going back again? The mental endurance it takes to know we’re running it back again for one more hole here.
I think I’ve been in a four-hole playoff once before and come out the other side of it. It’s pretty frustrating. I think for that many holes you always feel like you’ve got to have at least one putt at it to win.
I think with the playoff, anything can happen. Whatever you can do to keep going, you feel like you’ve always got a chance, and it’s kind of easy to get up for.
I feel like I’m probably not going to sleep very well tonight. My nerves are going to be pretty frayed after that many holes and that many holes under that kind of pressure, but it’s all worth it in the end.
Q. As was mentioned, your family has a long history of representing New Zealand, and your dad was part of one of the most iconic sports teams in the world. I’m curious what advice they’ve given you that’s helped you throughout your career?
RYAN FOX: A lot, to be honest. My granddad passed away before I started playing golf seriously, but he coached me cricket-wise the whole way through school basically until physically he couldn’t.
When I started playing golf, Dad was on my bag. Dad used to travel a lot. He gave up a lot of time to help out, and it felt like I had a little bit of a sport psychologist in my corner the whole time. The terminology may have been different, but what he did goal kicking-wise transferred over really, really well into golf — routine and targets and like being really focused on the little things.
It took a while to work out that me and Dad are quite different. Dad’s very analytical, and I’m kind of, if I hit a bad shot, I hit a bad shot, who really cares. We had a few arguments here and there. Probably the greatest thing I took out of Dad is the idea that hard work beats talent if talent doesn’t work hard.
He would always drill into me, if you work hard, no matter what happens, you can always be satisfied with the result. Whether you make it or not, whether you succeed or not, you can always look back with your head held high. If you don’t work hard, there’s always going to be a what if I did this differently?
Dad, I wouldn’t say drilled it into me, but Dad made sure I understood that concept pretty early. I always wanted to be a sportsman growing up. Rugby and cricket were my two main sports, and golf came in a little bit later, but I always kept the same theory, or tried to use the same theory all the way through.
Q. Two questions for you. Number one, I want to ask you about your second shot on the 72nd hole. You laid up, and it ended up working for you. You got the birdie to force the playoff. Was there any thought there to go for the green and try to win the tournament right there?
I didn’t really have a great number. I was pushing — I probably had about 235 meters over that corner. If I missed 3-wood at all, it was wet. I will say probably in the back of my head that I knew that second or better was going to get me in the U.S. Open next week as well, and I also looked at that flag. It’s a nice flag to go out with a wedge into the wind. You had a little bit of backstop. The slope on the right kind of feeds it in.
I thought I had a really good wedge shot in there. I thought it spun a little more. Obviously holed a putt to give myself a chance. I feel like I was pretty lucky for that putt. Otherwise looked like it was a little low side for me and just hung in there and lipped on that left side.
Yeah, it was a 50-50 decision probably. Probably in a playoff, as you saw, I would have gone at it. But in regulation, I didn’t want to bring a big number in that.
Q. You mentioned getting in the U.S. Open next week, congratulations for that. Have you looked at Oakmont lately? Have you been able to scout it out just in case you were able to get in the U.S. Open? All signs point to it being a tough challenge.
I saw enough stuff on social media and talked to a couple guys who went earlier this week, and it sounds like it’s going to be a proper beat up. It will be fun.
I’ve heard it’s a fantastic golf course. It’s hard, the greens are tricky. They’re going to be running scary fast. From what it looks like, the rough is straight hack out.
It’s going to be a little different than this week. I don’t think 18-under is going to be needed next week. I like that style of golf, maybe not every week, but it’s fun to play every now and again. You know that par is a good score.
Probably going to take it easy on Monday and try to figure out Oakmont in two days and see what happens. It’s nice to be in the field, that’s for sure.
Q. I want to take you back to your first tee shot today. Probably not something you want to remember, but in the left rough found the ball. What was your thought process after that? What would you say to young players or amateur players at that level if they do something like that and you eventually come out and got the victory, what would you say to them?
RYAN FOX: Yeah, it was a terrible tee shot, to be honest. I hadn’t missed a tee shot left all day. So it kind of shocked me a little bit in that regard. I was lucky to find it and have a shot out.
You’ve just got to stay patient. The same thing happened to me at Wentworth a couple years ago. I made triple on the 4th hole. To feel like I played my way out of the tournament and then played 8-under golf the next 14 holes or whatever and ended up winning that.
Anything can happen, especially on the back nine on a Sunday. If you hang in there, give yourself a chance, crazy stuff happens, and it did today. I was really proud of how I handled those first couple of holes with some pretty scruffy stuff. It got better throughout the day, and I hit some really, really good shots under the pump down the stretch. If I hadn’t have stayed patient early, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to do that.
The members of the All Whites that were here were watching you and pretty intensely celebrating with you. I asked them, is this similar playoff to like penalty kicks, and they were adamant that it was. What was it like having them here and meeting them afterwards and getting your photo taken with those guys?
Yeah, it was really cool. I’m probably more of an All Blacks fan than an All Whites fan given my history, but they provided great incentive over the years. I remember the last World Cup they were in, 2014 or something like that, and I feel like as a country we’ve always punched well above our weight in sport. In football, soccer, whatever I’m supposed to call it over here, we do pretty well in that regard.
To meet the guys afterwards and get a chance to congratulate them on their win. I know it was a big win for them last night, and to be able to share my win with them was really cool. There’s a lot of Kiwis doing good things in sport around the world, and we all work for each other, and it was cool to just be together in that moment.
How are you going to celebrate tonight?
RYAN FOX: I’m going to figure out how to get to Oakmont first. Probably get my kids to bed and find a glass of red wine.
Ryan Fox’s winning setup at the RBC Canadian Open included:
- Srixon ZXi 10.5° Driver
- Srixon ZXi 16.5° Fairway Wood
- Srixon ZXi 2 Utility
- Srixon ZXi5 Irons (4i, 5i)
- Srixon ZXi7 Irons (6i-PW)
- Srixon Z-STAR XV Golf Ball
- Cleveland Golf RTZ (50° Mid, 56° Mid, 60°Low)