US Open door remains open for Ryan Fox
Ryan Fox – very much in contention in Canada – image Masters Tournament
Ryan Fox finds himself in a share of 7th place through 36 holes of the Canadian Open in Toronto, adding a second consecutive round of 66 to be at 8 under par and four off the lead of Cameron Champ.
If Fox is to play next week’s US Open at Oakmont, he will likely need to finish inside the top three this week to improve from his current 75th in the world ranking to inside the top 60, the final criteria available for him to make the field.
Fox decided to withdraw from the final qualifying at his venue in Canada on Monday, citing the need for a break, but he has made such a good start this week that the door is still open to play his 6th US Open Championship.
Fox recorded eight birdies in his round of 66 and begins the weekend in great shape to challenge for the lead as he chases a second PGA Tour title in the past month.
“It was two really nice days out there for golf to be honest,” said Fox, referring to the conditions. “The golf course handled the rain really well, and obviously we got the nice side of the draw, missing out on the rain yesterday morning. Very happy with the two days so far.
“It’s obviously a golf course you can make a lot of birdies on. It’s going to require two more good scores on the weekend, so I’ve played it pretty aggressively so far for the first two days. Sort of no change there.
“I think the rain definitely impacted the scoring a lot. I thought, when we played Tuesday and Wednesday in the Pro-Am, it was starting to get firmer fast, and you had to think about it a little bit more. If you were in the rough, it was hard to get the ball close. It was hard to hit a few of the fairways with how firm the fairways are. Obviously with the rain softening it up, it became a little bit of target golf.
Hopefully it does firm up over the weekend and play a little bit tougher. I think I definitely prefer that than a birdie fest, but I’ve made a few the first couple of rounds at least.”
Harrison Endicott was just inside the cutline as this was being written, with still five holes to play while Aaron Baddeley and Karl Vilips will miss the weekend.
The shock of the week to date has been the horror couple of rounds of Rory McIlroy a week ahead of the US Open. McIlroy will finish near to last in the field of 153 after rounds of 71 and 78.
