His father Grant Fox was a champion at kicking goals. Now the son of the legendary All Black No.10 — Ryan Fox — is looking to kick some of his own sporting goals, the first being to wrap up an intriguing PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit by capturing the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Pines this weekend.

If he pulls it off, the 27 year-old will become the first New Zealand golfer since Mark Brown in 2008 to win the Order of Merit.

In previous years the title is often done and dusted before the final event of the year is decided.

But this year it has gone right down to the wire with a dozen players mathematically still in the mix, depending on which players wins and where others in contention finish.

Steve Jeffress ($213,651), Nick Cullen ($200,670), Fox ($162,785), Jake Higginbottom ($158,875), Dimitrios Papadatos ($154,695), Matthew Griffin ($138,885) and Rod Pampling ($127,500) all have a shot at winning the title which carries automatic entry into The Open Championship as well as the lucrative no-cut WGC – Cadillac Championship and Nedbank Golf Challenge tournaments.

A victory by either Jefress or Fox would give them the title which world No.3 Adam Scott (9th with $122,500 from just two events) will defend on the Gold Coast this week.

Jeffress, who’ll have a home town gallery behind him, leads the Order of Merit into the home straight.

His earnings to date stand at $213,651 from 12 events — including a career-best cheque of $180,000 for winning the Fiji International in August.

Fox, who also had a break through victory this year at the WA Open, posted a top-10 finish behind the hottest player in world golf at the moment, Jordan Spieth at the Australian Open in Sydney to continue a stunning march up the world rankings from almost 600 at the start of the year to be ranked 291.

A top-5 finish on Sunday would also almost certainly secure him a place in the Web.com Tour qualifying school.

While there’s keen interest and excitement surrounding the likely winner of the time-honoured Order of Merit, there’s also a lot riding on finishing inside the top-60 for those players trying to retain or secure their cards for 2015.

Victorian Andrew Kelly, who earlier this year fired a course record 62 to win a pro-am at the Yeppoon Golf Club currently sits in 60th place with $23,360.

But there are 25 players with $5,000 of him who all have a lot to play for this week.