Ryan Fox has it all before him on the European Tour

Ryan Fox is looking forward to this year.
The Auckland professional golfer has graduated from the Challenge Tour to the European Tour and is exicted at the prospects that come with it.
“Obviously there is much more opportunity to make some money,’’ Fox told Newstalk ZB radio last month.
“Obviously the events are much bigger.’'
The European Tour carries greater prizemoney which continues to increase.
“Europe has announced seven seven-million dollar plus tournaments for next year which I’m hoping to get into all of them,’’ Fox said.
“You compare that to the Challenge Tour, we didn’t play for seven million dollars the whole year. I think we probably played for something probably closer to about two (million).’'
Fox was able to play some European Tour events last year but often with little prior notice. The difference this year is he will be able to select which events he plays.
“I know what events I’m going to get in to. I can pick and choose, unlike this year (2016) where I played whatever I could get in to. I got in to events late and that made travel difficult.''
Fox said the Challenge Tour had four or five events worth in the vicinity of 400-450,000 euros. He said it was essential to play well in those events to ensure moving up to the European Tour.
“If you didn’t play well in a couple of those it was very, very hard to get a (European) Tour card, so there was a lot of pressure in those events.’'
The travel involved, to places like Kazakhstan in eastern Europe, also added to the pressure to play well.
“Some weeks you feel like you have to finish top 10 to cover your costs for the week.
“If you go somewhere like Kazakhstan, it costs you four or five grand for the week just to get there. That can be a difficult thing, especially if you are struggling a little bit (with your form).
“You feel like you are just burning money. I guess that’s the hard thing with professional golf.
“There is a lot of expense to start with. You almost feel like you are effectively gambling, gambling on your own ability.’’
Fox is well aware the competition on the European Tour will be much tougher and there are many young players emerging through the ranks. That was underlined when he played in the Australian Open in Sydney in November.
Fox was paired with Jordan Spieth in the final round and he said it was hard to think he was already a two-time major winner at the age of 23.
“You think he’s an old head in the game because he’s been around for four or five years. There’s just that much competition now.’'
Fox finished equal fourth in the Australian Open and earned $A46,000 for his efforts. Spieth went on to win the tournament despite not playing to his best.
Fox admitted to nerves at playing with Spieth.
“Early I was definitely nervous. I was playing with a multiple major winner who had won the Aussie Open before.
“I had never played in front of a crowd anything like what he generated that day.
“There were a few thoughts that went through my head on the first tee when I saw the crowd and I said please don’t kill anyone.
“But after a couple of holes I started to enjoy it. Jordan was great to play with — easy to talk to and it kind of made it easy for me to relax.
“I felt like I gave it a pretty good run and could have quite easily done him down the stretch if I had holed a couple of putts.
“But on top of that you could see why he’s won so many times, why he’s won majors. He just knows how to get it done.”