Fox making his charge at Open
Kiwi climbs the leaderboard but Aussie rookie pro may take some catching out in front
Ryan Fox has rocketed up the leaderboard on the second day of the New Zealand Open – but like everyone else, he will be chasing runaway leader Australian Zach Murray.
After a disappointing round by Fox’s standards at Millbrook yesterday, the top-ranked Kiwi burst back into contention with a six-under 66 at The Hills to sit in a five-way tie for third heading into the weekend.
Fox – who looked fresher after struggling with jet-lag all week – said he felt a lot better about the way he played today in tougher conditions.
“I feel a lot happier,” he said after his round. “Yesterday was a bit of a scrap whereas today I had a couple of scrappy tee shots but I hit a lot of really good iron shots and it won't take too much to iron out the tee shots. I got a pretty good feel out there.
“I thought it was probably a lot harder today than it was yesterday, maybe the cold yesterday made it hard not being able to feel anything in the hands. But I think it was pretty windy in places out there today and I thought it was a bit tougher.”
The 32-year-old rushed out of the blocks with two birdies in a row and started to string a few more in the back nine – with the exception of a hiccup on the 17th where bogeyed the par 5 after finding the bunker and the rough to bogey.
Despite being six back from the lead, Fox felt like he did enough to give himself a shot at winning his first NZ Open title tomorrow.
“[I wanted to] have a chance on the weekend really. And I've given myself that. Obviously Zach's playing some decent golf but I thought it was pretty tough out there this afternoon. To shoot six-under and have a good chance over the weekend, I thought it was pretty good.”
Catching Murray, however, may prove difficult if the 21-year-old continues playing the way he has this week.
The rookie pro carried on where he left off, rocketing out to an eaglebirdie start on his way to a sevenunder 65 at The Hills to sit at 15-under for the tournament.
After appearing cool and relaxed on day one, Murray admitted there were some nerves from being the leader.
“Probably today was even better than yesterday with more pressure because I was leading and I was pretty nervous on the first tee,” he said after his round. “Obviously I got off to a good start with eagle-birdie which settled the nerves and helped a lot.
“The key today was set up by the start to be four-under after six. I just had to play smart golf from there and keep giving myself chances on the back nine.”
Despite taking a five-shot lead over Japanese Ryuko Tokimatsu into the weekend, Murray isn’t getting too carried away just yet, but hopes his form carries through.
“You can dare to dream about [winning this event] but it does not help the cause too much. Obviously you don’t know what is at the end of the four days but I am playing well.”
The other big mover was former NZ Open champion Brad Kennedy who shot a eight-under 63 at Millbrook, matching countryman Murray’s effort on day one to join Fox and four others in third.