Ryan Fox’s breakthrough PGA Tour victory earns PGA Championship start
New Zealander Ryan Fox’s breakthrough win on the PGA Tour at Myrtle Beach in South Carolina this morning, earned the 38 year old a cheque for US$720,000, taking his earnings for the PGA Tour season to US$1.2 million, but the victory has a far greater meaning than even the significant prizemoney.
Most importantly, the win provides Fox with full status on the PGA Tour for at least the next two years and thus providing the luxury of security of tenure during that time, a start at this coming week’s PGA Championship, access to the PGA Tour’s Signature events offering the chance to compete for vast amounts of prizemoney and an improvement to inside the top 70 in the world ranking.
Fox’s previous best world ranking was 23rd so he is still well short of those heights he enjoyed near the end of 2022, but that he has broken through on the PGA Tour adds yet another milestone to the already significant career of Ryan Fox.
Fox has now won four DP World Tour events, one PGA Tour event and three Australasian Tour titles in addition to several others on lesser tours and so is proving to be a truly worldwide player.
Admittedly, most of the stars of the PGA Tour were playing the Signature Truist Championship in Philadelphia, but that will matter little to Fox, given the spoils that come with this victory.
Until this week, Fox had been struggling for much of the 2025 year with just two top twenty finishes in the 8 PGA Tour starts before outlasting McKenzie Hughes and Harry Higgs in a three-way playoff at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club.
Interestingly, it was on this same golf course where Fox had produced his previous best finish on the PGA Tour when finishing 4th at the Myrtle Beach Classic last year.
Fox began his final round two behind Higgs and one behind Hughes but a closing nine of 32 for a round of 65 set up the chance of a playoff. Playing two groups behind, Hughes took the outright lead when he birdied the 15th and 16th but a wild drive at the 72nd hole led to a bogey and the trio were tied at 15 under par.
At the first extra hole, both Fox and Hughes pulled their tee shots, Hughes bouncing back from the trees into the fairway while Fox was left with a tricky shot from the left rough which he needed to turn from right to left if he was to get anywhere near the hole. He was unable to do so but found the fringe just off the back right of the green although some 60 feet from the hole, and with Hughes and Higgs some 15 and 25 feet from the hole with their approaches, it appeared Fox might be in trouble.
Then would come a superb pitch and run down the green by Fox, which never really looked like missing, and, with Higgs and Hughes unable to convert, the title was Fox’s.
“A playoff is probably a little different mindset,” said Fox when asked to describe the nature of the playoff victory. “A bit more like match-play. Obviously, I knew the two guys had pretty good birdie chances. I just wanted to give the chip a run at it.
“I had a really similar line in regulation and missed the putt right. My caddie, Dean, said to me, Remember, this doesn’t break that much. So I just kind of aimed straight at it, and I hit the spot I wanted to hit, which is always a nice thing. About 8 foot out. To be honest, it never looked like it was going anywhere else, and the rest of it is a bit of a blur from there.
“Very rewarding. I haven’t transitioned probably as well as I would have liked over to the PGA TOUR. It was a tough year last year. I managed to just keep my card. It’s been a scratchy start this year as well.
“I always deep down felt like I could compete with the guys out here. Just haven’t been able to put it together. I was very happy to do it this week and give myself a chance on Sunday was nice again. I’ve been in that position a bunch of times over on DP. It’s an uncomfortable feeling, but it’s also a good feeling. You know that’s where you want to be.
“I’ve had some pretty good shots down the stretch over in Europe. It was nice to do the same thing here. Regardless if I would have come out with a win or not today, I was really happy with how I played, and I could have taken a lot out of it. To get that win is extra special.”
