Led by world No.34 Fox, the top three Kiwis on the Official World Golf Ranking all confirmed on Tuesday their places at Royal Queensland Golf Club from November 27-30, a tournament no New Zealander has won since Greg Turner in 1999 at Victoria Golf Club.

Ten years later, Fox made it all the way to the semi-finals of the Australian Amateur at Royal Queensland and this year makes his return to the BMW Australian PGA for the first time since 2022.

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A two-time winner on the PGA TOUR this season, Fox’s commitments in the US creates uncertainty around playing the New Zealand Open early next year. The 38-year-old is therefore hopeful that Kiwi golf fans will again be out in force when he tees it up at RQ.

“There always seems to be a bunch of random Kiwis at events,” said Fox, who broke through on the PGA TOUR at the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic in May.

“You can hear the New Zealand accent from a mile away and at The Open at Portrush this year, it was unbelievable how many Kiwis were over there for that.

“I feel the love every week. I know there’s a pretty strong Kiwi contingent up in Queensland and hopefully there’s a few Kiwis fly over to watch the PGA as well.

“It’ll feel a little bit like playing at home maybe, just with some slightly better weather than we get the end of November.”

With his future now secure in the United States, Fox will have a significant break back home in New Zealand at the completion of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

It will ensure that he arrives at Royal Queensland in November fresh and primed to accumulate some early points on the DP World Tour season, a far cry from when he last stepped straight off a plane from Dubai to play the 2022 BMW Australian PGA.

“I’ve always wanted to play the events at the end of the year. It just hasn’t worked that well the last couple of years,” said Fox, the 2019 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner.

“I did it in ‘22 after a really big year and was absolutely cooked and struggled early ’23, not having enough of a break.

“Obviously Brisbane’s a great city, Royal Queensland’s a great golf course and I’m looking forward to coming back and giving it a crack at the end of the year.”

With Adam Scott confirming his place in the field last week and defending champion Elvis Smylie also locked in, Fox knows his potential status as the highest-ranked player in the field will count for little.

He is also aware of the recent success of his fellow Kiwis on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia, including 2023-2024 Order of Merit winner Kazuma Kobori and recent tournament winners Tyler Hodge (NZ PGA), Josh Geary (Vic Open), Nick Voke (Webex Players Series Sydney) and Kerry Mountcastle (Gippsland Super 6).

“We’ve obviously got a lot of really good players at the moment,” said Fox.

“It was great to see Josh Geary get a win earlier this year, Kazuma’s obviously playing great and played great on the DP World Tour this year.

“Dan Hillier is another one, Mike Hendry is still carrying the flag nicely, Kerry’s turned himself into a great young player so we’ve got a lot of chances.

“It’s been 26 years (since Turner’s win) so hopefully we can change that this year. I’ll certainly be giving it my best crack and I’m sure all the other Kiwis in the field will be doing the same.”

Photo: Stuart Franklin/R&A/R&A via Getty Images

The BMW Australian PGA Championship is supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland, and Brisbane City Council via Brisbane Economic Development Agency.