The winner of the PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit at the completion of the PGA Championship on Sunday earns an automatic one-year exemption onto the European Tour and a place in the field for The Open Championship and World Golf Championship events in Mexico and China.

Given his win at the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth in February, Fox already possesses full status in Europe, the exemption in Europe to be passed down to the leading player on the Order of Merit not otherwise exempt.

Fox’s prize money tally of $295,029 is $74,089 clear of New Zealand Open winner Zach Murray (71) with Brad Kennedy (71) a further $16,000 behind, both eyeing off promotion from the Asian and Japan tours respectively.

For Fox, who launched his career with wins at the 2014 WA Open and 2015 Coca-Cola Queensland PGA Championship, the honour of claiming the Order of Merit carries just as much weight as the invitations he will receive should he win.

“It’s massive. It was one of my major goals when I first got on tour,” Fox said of his Order of Merit pursuit.

“It was my main tour and I always wanted to do well here. You’ve realised early on that to do well you had to win or contend in all of the big events.

“I did toy originally with skipping this event but in the end, talking through it, I’d have been gutted had I not played and someone got me by $5,000 or something.

“If I go out this week and play bad and someone beats me then good on them, but I would have never forgiven myself if I had not given myself at least a chance this week.

“You don’t get too many chances to win an Order of Merit. I don’t care what tour it’s on, unless you’re Tiger (Woods) or maybe Colin Montgomerie in the ‘90s, these chances are very few and far between.

“The motivation for this week was purely to lock up the No.1 spot.

“I’m in a pretty good place, I probably need something a little bit out of the ordinary to not win but there’ll be quite a few guys trying to knock me off that perch this week.

“My job is to try and take it out of their hands.”

Teeing off in the opening group from the 10th tee on Thursday alongside Cameron Smith and Cameron Champ, Fox generated early momentum with birdies at 11 and 12, outdriving Champ with a blow of 328 metres at 12 to set-up a two-putt birdie.

His only blemish for the round came at the par-4 seventh, content with his ability to match it with the longest driver on the PGA Tour.

“I compared better than I expected early and then I think he stepped it up a touch later in the round,” said Fox. “I certainly don’t have the speed he’s got.

“It was pretty impressive. I kind of want to egg him on and see what he’s really got, but I don’t know him well enough yet. Maybe tomorrow we might get one.

“The one that got me was the 2-iron he hit down four. I normally hit my 2-iron pretty far and he had me by about 30 yards.

“I sort of laughed at that and said, ‘Well, it’s pretty hard to compete with.’

“It was actually impressive how straight he hit it.  He didn’t hit any wide ones, but just the lack of shape.  “It’s a really straight, really penetrating ball flight and you can see why he’s become a world class player.”