Ryan Fox, 2019 100th New Zealand Open, Round 1 Interview – 28th February 2019

How was your round?

The score was ok, I didn’t feel like I played overly well. I kept it out of trouble for the most part, got lucky on 17 and 18 at Millbrook and made the most of that. Scoring is a bit tougher this year, it looks like. Playing in the cold this morning probably didn’t help, I certainly haven’t been that cold on a golf course for a while so all in all it was a pretty good day.

What happened on the 17th and 18th holes?

I got very lucky on 17. I kind of took that shot on. I felt pretty comfortable over the ball and just hit a shite golf shot really. I got lucky, I thought it was out of bounds, to be fair, but I figured that if it at least was in the water I was going to make par anyway. I hit a decent chip shot from getting lucky.

To be honest, on 18, I would have preferred it in the water. I would have had less for bogey from dropping it than I did being left of the water. It was a pretty bad lie on the down slope and I did pretty well to have a putt for my next shot there. It wasn’t a good shot, I’ve been fighting the lefts a little bit the last couple of weeks and that’s not an overly comfortable hole at the best of times, especially when you are fighting that shot. Happy to get away with only making bogey there.

How are you feeling?

I am pretty knackered now to be honest. I’ve just had a massage and was about to fall asleep on the table. I actually felt pretty good on the golf course.

I woke up 10 minutes before my alarm feeling pretty good. Other than being a little bit cold out there I was alert and it helped having Steve on the bag – he keeps you focussed. Hopefully I can get a good night’s sleep –  around this time I will be six or eight holes into my round tomorrow at this point so hopefully I will feel a little better than I do right now.

I have probably had jet-lag for the last six weeks so it feels a bit more normal than feeling normal.

I will try to stay awake as long as I can tonight and get a sleep-in tomorrow and feel alright for the afternoon.

How do you rate your round?

I felt like it was there to be had today. It was pretty nice this morning apart from being a little cold for the first four or five holes we played. I left a few slip out there but three-under is not bad looking at the leaderboard and looks like there is some scores to be had at the The Hills. Hopefully we get a nice afternoon and a little bit warmer which makes is easier to score.

I had a nice range session with Marcus (Wheelhouse) and Steve (Williams) so hopefully I can take that on to the golf course tomorrow and get something going a little bit lower.

Do you try to go to sleep early?

I have some mates down here who came to watch today so I will catch up with them for dinner so that will keep me awake to 9 or 10 and not being off until 12.40 tomorrow afternoon if I can sleep in to 9 tomorrow would be ideal. If I went to sleep now, I would be in big trouble.

The worst part of jet-lag is trying to stay awake. Having something to do generally helps – this is helping, a bit of practice helps and obviously dinner tonight will also.