Ryan Fox gets late start for Masters debut

Kiwi golfer Ryan Fox will be among the late starters on Friday morning when the Masters gets underway at Augusta.

Fox, who has been grouped with Americans Billy Horschel and Harris English for the first two rounds, is at golf’s biggest stage for the first time.

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He’ll start at 4.36am on Friday before a 1.24am tee-off on Saturday for the second round.

The Masters have largely decided against grouping the outspoken PGA Tour stars with their LIV counterparts for the opening two rounds.

Tiger Woods is featured alongside Viktor Hovland and Xander Schauffele (2.18am) while defending champion Scottie Scheffler is teeing up alongside Max Homa and amateur Sam Bennett (5.36am).

Two other featured group includes Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm and Cameron Young (2.42am) and Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood and Tony Finau (6am).

Fox told the DP World Tour website that he felt like he was in Disneyland following a practice round with Tyrrell Hatton and fellow Augusta debutant Adrian Meronk.

“I feel like this is the reward,” he said.

“There was a lot of reward last year, but this is Disneyland as a golfer, right? It’s a bucket list thing to come to either watch or play in.

“Playing well last year all culminated in getting to here. That’s been a goal of mine for a long time and I’m pretty chuffed to be here.”

Fox got to first experience the Augusta course last month.

“There aren’t many places that you build up that exceed your expectations, and this place did,” he said.

“I got lucky, I was the guest of a member and got to stay in the clubhouse, have dinner there and do all of that. It was a surreal first experience and my first experience on the golf course, I played awful and loved every minute of it.

“It’s the only time I’ve had when I’ve not even tried to hit a golf course, just walked around and thought ‘this is amazing’, remembered all the holes and seen that this is what it actually looks like. I found it really, really hard to actually focus on playing golf.

“I’m sure I’m not the only person that’s happened to round here, but it hasn’t happened to me much as a pro. It shows how special this place is.

“I came back the next day and had a more enjoyable day in terms of playing golf. It was hard to beat the first day, I played 18 out here, played the par three and stayed overnight. It was probably the best 24 hours I’ve had in my life. To come back the next day and get the novelty of it out of the way, it was easier to focus on playing golf.”

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission