Olympics-bound
New Zealander Ryan Fox equalled the Galgorm Castle Golf Club course record as
he stormed to victory at the Tayto Northern Ireland Open in partnership with
Ulster Bank.

His 9-under
62 equalled Joakim Lagergren’s score in the 2014 edition of the Northern
Ireland Open, but Fox threatened to go one better down the closing stretch as
he secured his second European Challenge Tour title.

Starting
the day on 10-under the card, three shots behind the lead, the Kiwi wasted no
time in making up the deficit as he registered a birdie and an eagle on the
first two holes to draw level.

Four more
birdies followed on the front-9 as he made the turn in just 29 shots.

Fox made
four birdies in the next six holes, but a bogey on 16 scuppered his hopes of
shooting a round of 59 and so emulating the achievement of Nicolo Ravano in the
recent Fred Olsen Challenge de España.

However, a
19-under par total was enough to secure victory by four shots from overnight
leader Dylan Frittelli (69), Dominic Foos, Max Orrin and Bernd Ritthammer (all
65).

In so
doing, Fox became the 15th different winner from 15 events on the 2016
Challenge Tour Schedule.

"To be
honest, I played exactly how I played all week," said Fox.

"But I got
really hot with the putter. I played solid from tee to green the whole week,
and today I left myself a lot of makeable putts."

"It got hot
and it was nice to keep seeing the ball go in. I thought I was flirting with
the magical number for a while, but a three-putt on 16 didn’t help that."

"My start
was a bit better than Saturday; I was one over after those two holes. I holed a
nice putt on the first and I was perfect on the last on the green. Yesterday, I
went too far right, but I hit a great shot today and rolled in a nice putt from
eight or nine feet."

Winner of
the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge in 2015, Fox had previously played in four
Challenge Tour events in 2016, finishing second, tied fourth, tied seventh and
tied 18th.

As he
prepares to represent his country in Rio at the 2016 Olympic Games, Fox said he
could not have asked for better preparation for the tournament, which starts in
less than two weeks.

"I couldn’t
have played any better and it’s nice to go into the Olympics with some form,"
he said. "It’s always a good feeling to win.

"It’s hard
to get your first win and sometimes it seems harder to keep doing it. It’s
great to be a two-time winner on the Challenge Tour and build on the experience
I had last year.

"It’ll be
great in Rio, I’m looking forward to being part of the New Zealand team; we
don’t get the opportunity very often in golf."

"There are
three Challenge Tour players and a lot of ex-Challenge Tour players there. It
shows the quality of this tour, and hopefully I can join the upper echelon of
the guys who have graduated from the Challenge Tour."