February 5, 2026 • 10 mins
The PGA Tour for 2026 is underway and after missing last week New Zealand golfer Ryan Fox is making his tournament debut overnight tonight in Phoenix, Arizona.
Ryan joined D'Arcy to look ahead to the upcoming season
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildergrave
from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'd be Ryan Fox, It joins us now. Ryan Fox
had an electric, an electric year last year on the PGA,
picked up his card. He's got three more years of it.
He took a cup of tea and a lie down
for the first first tournament on the PGA Tour. But
(00:32):
he's back at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. It's unfortunate
name the Waste Management Phoenix Open this weekend tease off.
I think it's just after four o'clock tomorrow morning, New
Zealand at time. And he joins us now to talk
about his season debut and what he learns. So here
he is, Mate Foxy, long time have you been. Are
(00:55):
you well rested?
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Yeah? Reasonably. You had a nice bit of time off
towards the back end of last year, and it's been
a busy start to there. Had two weeks in Dubai,
which unfortunately golf wasn't amazing over there, and then back
to New Zealand for about five or six days, pick
up the family and come to Phoenix. So I've been
in a few different time zones lately and a bit
of travel, but can't complain too much.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
How are you feeling? Are you actually up to it?
Are you ready to roll?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Well? I got some food pausing yesterday, so that wasn't
ideal timing. Feeling a little bit better today, so that's
hopefully by tomorrow it's all gone and I've got no issues.
But that's all the joys of travel basically that I'm
due to get a couple of year. It just seems
to be I got one first week out in America.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
You'd be cooking for yourself again, have you rwn yep?
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Probably some kind of leftover sausage or something in the fridge.
I don't know. It just it's one of those things.
If you travel as much as we do, you're going
to get something eventually. Right.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
So start of the PGA, you've got a whole year
on this too. How many games do you expect to play?
You there for the whole time you've whipping back and forth.
What's the focus.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
I'll be playing majority of PGA tour at least until
the end of the FedEx Cup, which is in August,
and then the back end of the year. I'll kind
of pick and choose between DP World and and the
PGA Tour, So it's kind of a nice place to be.
I've got another three years on the PGA Tour at
least with the winner's category, so it's nice to be
able to pick and choose what events I want to play.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
How comforting is that when you stand up with the
first t box knowing there's no pressure on you to
win everything because you've got so many exemptions.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
I mean, it's good obviously knowing you've got a job
going forward. It's a bit easier to make decisions. But
you know, there's still pride and how I want to
play every week, and you know you don't want to
play poorly, and there's still all the stuff that goes
with tournament golf and playing against the best players in
the world. So yeah, there is a little bit of
pressure off, but you know, you still you still feel
it like any other week. You know, you still want
(02:59):
to go out there and play well and compete and
do your best, and yeah, you know, it does just
make it that little easier.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
What did you take out of last year on the PGA.
You want to reapply what lessons because if you're not learning,
there's no point in getting up in the morning, right
what do we need to do about last year to
this year.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Look, I've got to tidy up a couple of things
game wise, just to be a bit more consistent in
a couple of things. But also that my good golf
is good enough, which is quite a good thing to learn.
I think I've just got to find that good golf
a little bit more often. So yeah, it's you know,
last year was was obviously a pretty important year for
(03:40):
me in that regard getting a couple of wins on
the PGA Tour, you know, achieving a dream for one
of a better term. And yeah, look to to take
these learnings into this year. Look, I do want to
tidy up a couple of aspects of the game, get
some get a bit more consistent in a few things.
But yeah, look it's it's good to know that when
(04:01):
I play good, I can compete out here and I
can certainly take that into every week and you know,
have a little bit of patience and everything as well,
going yeah when it you know, you can't play good
every week unless you've got a Scheffler. But you know,
even Rory doesn't play well every week. But Scott is
the one that seems to be able to do it
week in week out. But you know, I know when
(04:21):
that time comes, when I start playing well and feeling
good about myself, I can compete out here, which is nice.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Zero in on the aspects particularly that you need to
work through. Is there any particular shot or club or
area that you want to really lift on.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
I mean, a short game can probably be a little
bit better, you know, I went, I think everything last
year and Patches was really good. It was just the
consistency of it more than anything else. So you know,
not letting it stray too far outside the lines rather
than try to be less streaky. Like I don't really
(05:00):
know how asked to put it. It's just, you know,
the best players in the world are very consistent in
what they do, and you know, every part of their
game generally works week in week out, and I certainly
like to be counted as one of those. And I
just need to be a bit more consistent with every
part of it. And you know that's not just week
to week, that's kind of round to round as well.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I'm playing under pressure too. Look, we experienced that last
years in Canada, wasn't it. With that ridiculous amount how
many playoff holes did you go to before you actually one,
knowing that you can keep that and focused going when
it really counts, that's got to be enormously uplifting.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Yeah, definitely. I mean I find it funny. I actually
kind of the external pressure. I actually quite like it
gets me really into it, and I've got to find
a way to get a little bit better at that.
You know, every day. You know, it's not that I
can't get up, but it just I find under pressure
it becomes you know, I really almost zone in on everything.
(06:00):
And you know, sometimes in tournament golf it's a bit
a bit easy to get caught up and I want
to do this with my golf swing or I don't
want to hit it here you think about the bad stuff.
So you know, I know down the stretch I can compete.
I just got to be able to find that place
a little bit more. Week in week out.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Ski through trees and you focus on avoiding the trees,
you go straight into them. If you follow your path,
you're generally fine. So maybe you can apply that to
golf as well. Ryan Brooks keep goes back Patrick Reid's
coming back out of the Live Tour. What does that
mean for the PGA. What does it mean for the
players to have these guys return.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Well, Brooks played in front of me in the pro
am today and there's certainly a buzz around having him back,
which is cool. You know, it's been one way traffic
for the most part for the last three or four years,
with guys going to lives, So you know, I think
from a PGA Tour point of view, it's nice to
have a couple come back the other way. And you know,
(07:02):
I've got to applaud the PGA Tour for being relatively
pragmatic and getting the guys back or getting Brooks back
straight away. And obviously Patrick Reeve's got a pathway back
for the end of the year, and you know, he
made a pretty big call a couple of weeks ago
to to not renew and chase getting back on the
PGA Tour. So yeah, look, it's good. The PJ Tour,
(07:24):
I think, is a pretty good place at the moment.
The new CEO who came in the middle of the
last year, seems to be doing a pretty good job
and changing a few things and you know for the
better as well. And yeah, look it's PJ Tour. Isn't
a great place, and you know, I'm looking forward to
being out here for a few more years and seeing
(07:46):
you know, I feel these changes take place and you
know what happens going forward.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Now, Brooks, what does he look like? Because the swing
looking okay? Do you think he's lost anything playing over there?
Speaker 3 (07:55):
I don't think so him and he's still a world
class player. He just you know, it might take him
a little bit to get back to playing a full
schedule again. You know, obviously it's a it's a bit
of a lighter schedule playing on live, and you know,
I think their schedule is a little bit more disjointed.
You know, you tend to play you know, a week,
(08:16):
then a week off, then a week whereas you know
PGA Tour you can pretty much play any every week
in a role if you want, so it'll be you know,
it might take them a little bit to get back
into that again, but you know, I'd expect him to
be pretty competitive by by the end of the year.
You know, he's obviously only a couple of years away
from from his last major wins, so yeah, he's still
(08:37):
got it.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
And one last thing madeor wise, as you mentioned, you're
locked in for what three of them US Open elludes
you at the moment that there's still a chance.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Yeah, I say, world ranking wise, I'm still fine for
the US Open. Just need to stay there for I
think until May was the first cutoff of the US Open,
so I think they take the top sixty in the
world rankings. So you know, a good start to the
season on the PGA Tour should should sort me out
for that. And you know, I'm in the other three,
which is certainly nice. And you know, compared to the
(09:11):
last couple of years, I can pick my schedule this
year and you know, around the majors, around the elevator
events on the PGA Tour, and you know, that's a
bit nicer place to be than it has been the
last couple of years out here where you you know,
you feel like you're chasing playing your way into events.
And you know, I got into a couple of events,
you know, last minute last year, which is obviously nice,
(09:32):
but I ended up playing a whole lot of golf
in a row and just kind of ruining myself for
the end of the year. So yeah, it's nice this
year to be able to pick a schedule and know
him and all the most of the big events for
this year.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
And you've got faith that you know you can, and
an internal faith means so much in life and in
sport specifically, and I'm really looking forward to you pulling
off a Myrtle beach shot like you did last year,
trying God only your foxy takes for your time, Mate,
(10:05):
You see wells.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talk
SETB from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on
iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildergrave
from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'd be Ryan Fox, It joins us now. Ryan Fox
had an electric, an electric year last year on the PGA,
picked up his card. He's got three more years of it.
He took a cup of tea and a lie down
for the first first tournament on the PGA Tour. But
(00:32):
he's back at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. It's unfortunate
name the Waste Management Phoenix Open this weekend tease off.
I think it's just after four o'clock tomorrow morning, New
Zealand at time. And he joins us now to talk
about his season debut and what he learns. So here
he is, Mate Foxy, long time have you been. Are
(00:55):
you well rested?
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Yeah? Reasonably. You had a nice bit of time off
towards the back end of last year, and it's been
a busy start to there. Had two weeks in Dubai,
which unfortunately golf wasn't amazing over there, and then back
to New Zealand for about five or six days, pick
up the family and come to Phoenix. So I've been
in a few different time zones lately and a bit
of travel, but can't complain too much.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
How are you feeling? Are you actually up to it?
Are you ready to roll?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Well? I got some food pausing yesterday, so that wasn't
ideal timing. Feeling a little bit better today, so that's
hopefully by tomorrow it's all gone and I've got no issues.
But that's all the joys of travel basically that I'm
due to get a couple of year. It just seems
to be I got one first week out in America.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
You'd be cooking for yourself again, have you rwn yep?
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Probably some kind of leftover sausage or something in the fridge.
I don't know. It just it's one of those things.
If you travel as much as we do, you're going
to get something eventually. Right.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
So start of the PGA, you've got a whole year
on this too. How many games do you expect to play?
You there for the whole time you've whipping back and forth.
What's the focus.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
I'll be playing majority of PGA tour at least until
the end of the FedEx Cup, which is in August,
and then the back end of the year. I'll kind
of pick and choose between DP World and and the
PGA Tour, So it's kind of a nice place to be.
I've got another three years on the PGA Tour at
least with the winner's category, so it's nice to be
able to pick and choose what events I want to play.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
How comforting is that when you stand up with the
first t box knowing there's no pressure on you to
win everything because you've got so many exemptions.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
I mean, it's good obviously knowing you've got a job
going forward. It's a bit easier to make decisions. But
you know, there's still pride and how I want to
play every week, and you know you don't want to
play poorly, and there's still all the stuff that goes
with tournament golf and playing against the best players in
the world. So yeah, there is a little bit of
pressure off, but you know, you still you still feel
it like any other week. You know, you still want
(02:59):
to go out there and play well and compete and
do your best, and yeah, you know, it does just
make it that little easier.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
What did you take out of last year on the PGA.
You want to reapply what lessons because if you're not learning,
there's no point in getting up in the morning, right
what do we need to do about last year to
this year.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Look, I've got to tidy up a couple of things
game wise, just to be a bit more consistent in
a couple of things. But also that my good golf
is good enough, which is quite a good thing to learn.
I think I've just got to find that good golf
a little bit more often. So yeah, it's you know,
last year was was obviously a pretty important year for
(03:40):
me in that regard getting a couple of wins on
the PGA Tour, you know, achieving a dream for one
of a better term. And yeah, look to to take
these learnings into this year. Look, I do want to
tidy up a couple of aspects of the game, get
some get a bit more consistent in a few things.
But yeah, look it's it's good to know that when
(04:01):
I play good, I can compete out here and I
can certainly take that into every week and you know,
have a little bit of patience and everything as well,
going yeah when it you know, you can't play good
every week unless you've got a Scheffler. But you know,
even Rory doesn't play well every week. But Scott is
the one that seems to be able to do it
week in week out. But you know, I know when
(04:21):
that time comes, when I start playing well and feeling
good about myself, I can compete out here, which is nice.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Zero in on the aspects particularly that you need to
work through. Is there any particular shot or club or
area that you want to really lift on.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
I mean, a short game can probably be a little
bit better, you know, I went, I think everything last
year and Patches was really good. It was just the
consistency of it more than anything else. So you know,
not letting it stray too far outside the lines rather
than try to be less streaky. Like I don't really
(05:00):
know how asked to put it. It's just, you know,
the best players in the world are very consistent in
what they do, and you know, every part of their
game generally works week in week out, and I certainly
like to be counted as one of those. And I
just need to be a bit more consistent with every
part of it. And you know that's not just week
to week, that's kind of round to round as well.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I'm playing under pressure too. Look, we experienced that last
years in Canada, wasn't it. With that ridiculous amount how
many playoff holes did you go to before you actually one,
knowing that you can keep that and focused going when
it really counts, that's got to be enormously uplifting.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Yeah, definitely. I mean I find it funny. I actually
kind of the external pressure. I actually quite like it
gets me really into it, and I've got to find
a way to get a little bit better at that.
You know, every day. You know, it's not that I
can't get up, but it just I find under pressure
it becomes you know, I really almost zone in on everything.
(06:00):
And you know, sometimes in tournament golf it's a bit
a bit easy to get caught up and I want
to do this with my golf swing or I don't
want to hit it here you think about the bad stuff.
So you know, I know down the stretch I can compete.
I just got to be able to find that place
a little bit more. Week in week out.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Ski through trees and you focus on avoiding the trees,
you go straight into them. If you follow your path,
you're generally fine. So maybe you can apply that to
golf as well. Ryan Brooks keep goes back Patrick Reid's
coming back out of the Live Tour. What does that
mean for the PGA. What does it mean for the
players to have these guys return.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Well, Brooks played in front of me in the pro
am today and there's certainly a buzz around having him back,
which is cool. You know, it's been one way traffic
for the most part for the last three or four years,
with guys going to lives, So you know, I think
from a PGA Tour point of view, it's nice to
have a couple come back the other way. And you know,
(07:02):
I've got to applaud the PGA Tour for being relatively
pragmatic and getting the guys back or getting Brooks back
straight away. And obviously Patrick Reeve's got a pathway back
for the end of the year, and you know, he
made a pretty big call a couple of weeks ago
to to not renew and chase getting back on the
PGA Tour. So yeah, look, it's good. The PJ Tour,
(07:24):
I think, is a pretty good place at the moment.
The new CEO who came in the middle of the
last year, seems to be doing a pretty good job
and changing a few things and you know for the
better as well. And yeah, look it's PJ Tour. Isn't
a great place, and you know, I'm looking forward to
being out here for a few more years and seeing
(07:46):
you know, I feel these changes take place and you
know what happens going forward.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Now, Brooks, what does he look like? Because the swing
looking okay? Do you think he's lost anything playing over there?
Speaker 3 (07:55):
I don't think so him and he's still a world
class player. He just you know, it might take him
a little bit to get back to playing a full
schedule again. You know, obviously it's a it's a bit
of a lighter schedule playing on live, and you know,
I think their schedule is a little bit more disjointed.
You know, you tend to play you know, a week,
(08:16):
then a week off, then a week whereas you know
PGA Tour you can pretty much play any every week
in a role if you want, so it'll be you know,
it might take them a little bit to get back
into that again, but you know, I'd expect him to
be pretty competitive by by the end of the year.
You know, he's obviously only a couple of years away
from from his last major wins, so yeah, he's still
(08:37):
got it.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
And one last thing madeor wise, as you mentioned, you're
locked in for what three of them US Open elludes
you at the moment that there's still a chance.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Yeah, I say, world ranking wise, I'm still fine for
the US Open. Just need to stay there for I
think until May was the first cutoff of the US Open,
so I think they take the top sixty in the
world rankings. So you know, a good start to the
season on the PGA Tour should should sort me out
for that. And you know, I'm in the other three,
which is certainly nice. And you know, compared to the
(09:11):
last couple of years, I can pick my schedule this
year and you know, around the majors, around the elevator
events on the PGA Tour, and you know, that's a
bit nicer place to be than it has been the
last couple of years out here where you you know,
you feel like you're chasing playing your way into events.
And you know, I got into a couple of events,
you know, last minute last year, which is obviously nice,
(09:32):
but I ended up playing a whole lot of golf
in a row and just kind of ruining myself for
the end of the year. So yeah, it's nice this
year to be able to pick a schedule and know
him and all the most of the big events for
this year.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
And you've got faith that you know you can, and
an internal faith means so much in life and in
sport specifically, and I'm really looking forward to you pulling
off a Myrtle beach shot like you did last year,
trying God only your foxy takes for your time, Mate,
(10:05):
You see wells.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talk
SETB from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on
iHeartRadio
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