PGA Tour winner Ryan Fox comes from a family of champions in New Zealand

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Ryan Fox, who broke through for his first PGA Tour win at the Myrtle Beach Classic on Sunday, comes from a line of sporting champions in his native New Zealand.

Fox’s father and sometime caddie, Grant Fox, was a leading rugby player who played 46 times for New Zealand’s All Blacks and is fourth on the career scoring list with 645 points.

Grant Fox was a member of the New Zealand team that won the first Rugby World Cup in 1987. He scored 126 points in that tournament, which is still a record for an individual at a World Cup.

Ryan Fox’s maternal grandfather was Merv Wallace, a captain and later coach of the New Zealand cricket team. Wallace coached the team that achieved New Zealand’s first test match victory, over the West Indies in 1956.

Grant Fox has spoken about the experience of following Ryan’s performances at a distance, often in the small hours of the morning in New Zealand because of time zone differences.

“If he’s at the pointy end of the field and there’s a chance he’s going to get (television) coverage, we’re up,” Grant Fox said in a 2022 interview. “I’m getting older now and it’s getting harder to recover from that.

“But there’s live scoring and my wife follows it religiously. The phone’s by the bed at night.”

On Sunday, Ryan Fox was in the clubhouse at 15 under after a final-round 66 and got into a playoff after Mackenzie Hughes bogeyed the 18th. Fox chipped in for birdie on the first playoff hole to win and secure a spot in the PGA Championship.

Grant Fox said he was delighted to see his son, now 38, following his own sporting dream.

“All you want for your kids is for them to be happy and healthy and chasing their dream,” Grant Fox said. “It doesn’t matter how old they are you still want them to be doing that and Ryan’s doing it.

“I love the fact that he’s excelling in a sport different from mine.”

Fox is the ninth New Zealander to win on the PGA Tour.

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