ALFRED DUNHILL LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP

October 4, 2023

Ryan Fox

Press Conference

TOM CARLISLE: We are now joined in the media center at the all tread Dunhill Links Championship by Ryan Fox.

What a 12 months it's been: A win here, made your debut in the Masters and last month won the BMW PGA Championship. How has your life changed since winning at St Andrews last year.

RYAN FOX: It's been ridiculous. But coming off the 18th green here and Tim Barter going, "You're predicted 20-something in the world and you've booked yourself a spot in the Masters," and I had not thought about that all day thankfully.

It's such an iconic event on tour and to win around here is a dream come true, especially after losing Warne early in the year, my playing part for a decent number of years here and getting to play in the Masters this year was special.

And I still don't know what to think about the Wentworth and the BMW PGA. It's the best nine holes of golf I have ever played on that Sunday afternoon, especially considering the circumstances.

I think it will take a little while proces but it's amazing how much a day can change your kind of life and it's happened to me twice in the last two years. Once here Sunday last year and then that Sunday at Wentworth changed everything for next year.

TOM CARLISLE: Having your parents here as well. That must have been incredible.

RYAN FOX: Yeah, had an interesting run last year, Mum and Dad had come up to watch four weeks of golf, I pulled out of Wentworth after the Thursday. I tore the meniscus in my knee. They went to Italy on Holiday Inn stead of me playing The Italian Open. I turned up in France on a still slightly dodgy knee. My golf clubs didn't turn up and I missed the cut, and this is the last week Mum and Dad were here.

The whole goal at the start of the week was just to give them some golf to watch and make sure I kind of got four rounds in. Yeah just was one of those weeks where everything kind of worked. I obviously got myself in contention and played great on Sunday and to have Mum and Dad and my wife and my daughter, well, my first daughter, to see the whole thing was pretty incredible.

Certainly made up for those few early weeks of Mum and Dad's trip. I know Dad was bouncing off the wall on Sunday. He's not a great person to watch golf with. If he doesn't have control of what's going on, it's pretty nerve-wracking and stressful for him. I imagine he was like that on Sunday. Thankfully I didn't notice too much of him outside the ropes.

Yeah, it was great to have him there and witness that, and same at Wentworth a couple weeks ago. I had my wife and both my kids there, so pretty cool to share that with them as well.

Q. The Ryder Cup, seeing the way it all panned out, what sort of emotions were you going through?

RYAN FOX: I've been out here since 2015. I feel like an honorary European and got a lot of mates on that team and was bloody chuffed to see them do what they did, especially that Friday was almost one of the best days of golf you could watch, and I watched -- missed a little bit of Friday afternoon playing golf. I watched all day Saturday and I missed a little bit of Sunday morning playing golf, and it was enthralling TV. I was definitely nervous for the boys on Sunday afternoon.

I think they got a little bit tight there for a while, a lot tighter than all of us probably wanted it to be. I mean, it was very cool to see some amazing golf down the stretch from a bunch of guys. Obviously Tommy especially, those two shots, 16 and 17, I don't think anyone ever actually saw that shot in on 17 until a couple of feet.

Yeah, it was great to be able to support the boys. And also seeing the golf course a couple years ago and see how it played, and you know, I felt like I had skin in the game as well feeling like an honorary European, and I was actually pulling for them and chuffed they got it done.

Q. Watching Bob come on the Tour and make an impression, did you sense something in Bob when he came on tour the first year that there was something there that could make the Ryder Cup?

RYAN FOX: Yeah, he got really close, didn't he, his first couple of years making the Ryder Cup Team. He always looked like someone who is going to get there. He's had a really solid year this year. Incredible to qualify automatically for the team, is a heck of an effort, especially considering how strong the top half of that European Team was.

He's always been a guy that if you get him in contention, he doesn't shy away from it, and it was kind of expected last week that that's what he was going to do. He would have been up for the occasion.

And I think Luke did a really good job, as well, pairing him with Rosey, who has that experience, the nerve, assembling his nerves a little bit. I heard a couple interviews where he said Rosey was an amazing partner and really enjoyed it. Obviously he stepped up on Sunday as well. It looked like for a while that his match might have really, really mattered and he playing really solid down the stretch to get the win there. I think there's some pretty big things to come to Bob, and a few on that team actually.

Q. You were unlucky to miss out on the last Presidents Cup. Has it made you more determined to be on that next team?

RYAN FOX: Yeah, I'd love to be obviously. I was a bit disappointed last year to not get there but you know, as probably like Adrian Meronk feels, if you're left up to a captain's pick, it's going to be someone's opinion, and someone is going to be hard done by. Adrian was that guy this year unfortunately, and I was -- I kind of felt like that guy last year for the Presidents Cup.

Probably going to help myself out; going to have my PGA TOUR card next year. That may is have hurt me slightly not being a PGA TOUR member. The Presidents Cup probably doesn't have quite the same aura around it as the Ryder Cup does, but it's certainly something I'd really love to play in. I know the International Team has not had the greatest record, so I would like to try to get on that team and maybe grab a little bit of history as well.

Q. What can it do for the game, helping it grow in areas --

RYAN FOX: Good question, it shows what golf can be. We play week-in, week-out for ourselves, and seeing the guys play for something bigger, I know I watched the press conference afterwards and the Europeans, especially, were talking about the legacy of who have come before them and the legacy of playing for other people. We kind of miss that a little bit in golf to an extent. There's not a lot of team stuff going on. It can be very selfish at times. I think it gave golf a bit more of personal appeal to people. You get behind a football team. You get behind a rugby team, like the All Blacks at home are massive and everyone loves getting behind them.

I think it's huge for golf to have a team that you can really be for or against. Hopefully that's something that came across. My whole house back home in London were watching and it wanted the Europeans to get up. I wouldn't say hate but there was some dislike for some Americans -- in a good way. You always want your favourite team to win and that's what it felt like. Hopefully that pushes golf forward. 120 million people watching, that's pretty incredible. It was a great showcase of golf. There was some amazing golf played by both teams but especially down the stretch hitting some of those shots under pressure; what Tommy did especially, what Bob did, that can only be good for the game going forward.

Q. Last year you won here and went to Dubai chasing down Rory -- is there a chance this year?

RYAN FOX: I'd like to try to do it but Rory has had such an incredible year, obviously two wins in Rolex Series Events. Contending in a couple majors. It's going to be hard to chase him down no matter how well I play but the big goal for me, more at the start of the year, was to try to push for one of those top 10 spots.

Obviously I had the chance to play a bunch in the States this year and get some experience over there. I've kind of ticked a lot of boxes in that respect this year. While chasing Rory and Jon down would certainly be something I would like to do but for the most part I will probably tick the goals off and the rest of the year, I can just try to win tournaments again which is kind of a cool place to be.

Q. (On Shane Warne.)

RYAN FOX: Yeah, if you read his book, you see how much he loved this event. He absolutely loved it. I was very honoured to be his partner for five or six Dunhills. One of the years I wasn't his partner, I got -- he was still in a little grouping we had and I played one of the days with him. You know to, have an idol of mine growing up that became my friend through this tournament; I played a lot of golf with him outside of this event, as well, and we had a whole lot of fun together.

It was certainly sad to not have him. It almost still doesn't feel real that he's not here. He left such an impact on people's lives. It was definitely sad to not have him here last year, and I know how much he would have loved that, if we were coming down the stretch and I had a chance to win the golf tournament, I know how much he would have loved being a part of that. We were lucky, we had a run at the team event the year before, and we lost. I know he was fairly hung over Sunday morning but that's the most fun I've ever seen anyone potentially have on the golf course. He's certainly missed by many here, and not just here but across the world. I know how much he loved this tournament. He absolutely loved it which is very cool.