Ryan Fox: Kiwi Golfer discusses hip injury, financial pressures, PGA tour

You don’t have to be a professional golfer to know it’s an expensive sport. 

New Zealand’s highest-ranked men’s golfer, Ryan Fox, has lifted the lid on the pressures he’s faced this year dealing with a hip injury while working to retain his PGA Tour card for 2025. Despite the financial challenges, Fox emphasises that money isn’t the be-all and end-all of his career. 

It’s been a tough year for Fox after two very lucrative years in which he made $11 million. Over that period he had three DP World Tour wins, five runners-up placings, two thirds and three top-10 finishes. On the DP Tour alone, Fox brought home $6m and $5.4m in 2022 and 2023 respectively but has just $735,574 in prize money this year (plus $1,845,332 on the PGA Tour). 

Asked whether the difference impacted him psychologically, Fox told The Mike Hosking Breakfast on Newstalk ZB that money wasn’t the goal. 

“I don’t play golf for the money and I’m in a pretty good place in that sense. 

“You do think about it if you miss a few cuts in a row. It is a pretty expensive way to make a living if you’re not making money – golf’s pretty brutal that if you miss the cut, you don’t make anything. In the US, it’s probably been in excess of six or $7000 a week spent to do it and, if you’re not making money, it does get expensive quickly. 

“I know I’m good enough to compete and at some point it’s going to turn around … This year I’ve still had a couple of really good results and covered myself quite easily in the US. Obviously, the last couple of years have been very good [in regards to prize money]. It’s still been a good experience and I’m not worried too much about the money side of things. It’s more about trying to compete and trying to win tournaments.” 

This week Fox is defending his 2023 BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club. Fox remarkably recovered from a triple bogey seven on the third hole after starting two shots off the lead in the final round, but then went eight-under including six birdies on the back nine to claim a one-shot victory. 

Currently ranked 106th on the FedEx Cup standings – the top 125 retain their card – Fox said the past year had been tough. 

“I’ve done a lot of travel the last couple of years. The US has been difficult this year in that respect,” he said. 

“I think we spent 30 weeks travelling out of a suitcase with no base, 20 of those weeks are with the family and two young kids. So there was definitely a fair bit of a grind in there but I still get to do what I love for a living. We’ve had some great experiences … I got to play on the PGA tour. That’s been a dream of mine for a long time. I certainly wouldn’t swap any of the experiences I’ve had the last couple of years being able to do that.” 

Last week, Fox told the Herald he has been dealing with a hip injury for most of the year which he hadn’t given much thought to, but recently learned the extent of the issue. 

“I got some testing done on that when I was at home and there’s potentially some stuff I need to sort out with that at the end of the year as well,” Fox said of his injury. 

“So, it’s a little bit about managing that going forward with the schedule. Once I get back to the States and if I get the job done pretty quickly, then I’ve got to figure out if I’m going back to Europe [or] if I’m coming home and getting the hip sorted; there’s a fair bit to sort out there, but I certainly can’t make it any worse than it is. I’ve just got to manage it; manage the workload a little bit on it, that’s abo

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The new PGA Tour season is underway. The reason I
mentioned this is golf and a seasons are a little
bit tricky, especially if you play on the PGA and
the dpp Will Tour like Ryan Fox does. Anyway, is
a fun fact. The off season is eleven days long,
suretess of any Anyway, Fox comes off the back of
the Irish Open over the weekend. He's planning what's necks
for the rest of the year and into twenty twenty five,
So it's time for to catch up. Ryan Fox is
with us. Good morning, Good morning mine. Right In preparation

(00:22):
for this, I tried to work out where the season's at,
the PGA, your tour, Europe, America live, and what you need?
How many cards, how many points? It's so damn confusing.
What's actually happening the season wise?

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Season wise, I'm in Europe at the moment, defending Wentworth
this week, which is pretty cool, and then I'm heading
back to the States after that. I've got a little
bit of work to do to keep PGA Tour card
for the year. You probably ninety five percent of the
way there based on the PGA Tour's projection. So yeah,

(00:57):
a couple of good weeks and I can sort that out,
and then I kind of got a decision to make
at the end of the year where I'm going to
play from there, whether I keep playing in the US
or come back to Europe and play. You know, I'm
pretty keen on taking a little bit of a break.
I'm fighting a little bit of a hip injury at
the moment, so that needs a little bit of rest
and some attention at the end of the year, but

(01:20):
it's not nothing serious and just need to manage it
at the moment.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
Excellent information, So a couple of things out of that,
the PG and chasing a card on the PGA Tour.
At your level of experience, do you feel the pressure
or not?

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah, a little bit. You know, it's especially probably because
I'm close and I don't need much. So the idea
now is to not actually think about it that way
and go out and actually try to win tournaments. And
that's the easiest way to deal with it, actually not
think about where you are. You Golf's a funny one.
You're always at some point trying to fight for your job.

(01:57):
I've been lucky in Europe to have a couple of
wins and take stress off, but I'm we're going to
fight for my job on the PBO Tour year and
year out without without a win. So you know, it's
in that space. It's kind of a normal scenario to
be and so while there is a little bit of pressure,
it's you've got your little ways of dealing.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
With it, okay, And then the decision as to whether
you go PGA or Europe, how do you work that through?

Speaker 2 (02:25):
It kind of depends on how I've gone of this
week in Europe, if I've got enough to play in
our final events in Abu Dhabi in Dubai, which I've
got a bit of work to do there, whether coming
home and having a rest and sort of might hep
out is the better option, or you know, if I

(02:45):
play well in the US coming up, I've got a
way to play my way into some of the bigger
events at the end sorry, at the start of next year.
So yeah, there's a whole lot of permutations to work out, basically,
and it's basically very dependent on how how I play
in the next few weeks. But you know, kind of

(03:06):
got to look at it as an opportunity to give
myself a better season next year, depending on how things.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Go the hip, How does that unfold? Who do you
seek advice from, and who makes the decision as to
whether you play on or get it treated.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
I think the decision to play on and get it
treated is basically on me, you know. I've basically just
got to torn labor them and my right happen and
some kind of impingement going on there, which is actually
relatively common in sport, especially in golf, and it's it's
been giving me a little bit of grief all year
without really knowing what's going on. So I've had the scans.

(03:44):
I kind of know what's going on now, so that
actually makes things a little bit easier. I've you know,
I have been managing it relatively well for most of
the year, so I can continue to do that. But
it's obviously needs It's not ideal, so it needs a
little bit of time at the end of the year,
potentially some treatment. But I've got I probably have a
couple more scans and a consultation with a specialist to

(04:07):
kind of work out what that plan is going forward.
But I've got a bit of time at the end
of the season to kind of work that out now.
So I've been told I can't do any damage. I'm
getting treatment by physios and stuff like that to make
sure everything else around that has working properly, and you know,
the golf game actually feels like it's in half decent

(04:27):
shape at the moment, So we'll just keep going until
I feel like it's time to stop for the year.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
Basically, that partially answers the question, so that doesn't play
with you psychologically. You don't start adjusting swings and stances
and stuff like that to compensate.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
I have a little bit this year subconsciously, and it's
probably called some issues, but it's almost it's flipped the
other way. Now that I know that there was there's
now an issue there and some of the stuff I've
been struggling with hasn't missed necessarily been my fault, So
mentally it's probably a little bit easy to deal with.
And now that we know what the issue is, I

(05:07):
can sort of work around it with mobility, with some
strength and the exercises and hopefully take all the pressure
off that and then sort of get back to where
I have been the last couple of years golf swing wise,
because it has caused some issues this year, but at
least now knowing what's going on, it's a lot easier
to manage in that respect. So I've got to manage
the workload a little bit as well, so you know,

(05:30):
not not grind too much and not do too much
on it week to week. Like the walking and stuff like,
that's no issue. It's just the golf swing is the
one that can put a little bit of pressure on it.
So you just just manage that a little bit. But
for the most part, I can't do any more damage
to it than what it is there now, and you
know I can. I can work my way through it

(05:50):
with some with some exercises and potentially a couple of
ant inflammatories here from there.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
All right, by the way, how much run? How much
of this is fun? This is how much of it's grind.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
It's about fifty fifty at the moment. I've done a
lot of travel the last couple of years. You know,
the US has been difficult this year in that respect.
I think we've spent thirty weeks traveling around out of
a suitcase with no base, twenty of that with twenty
of those weeks or with the family and two young kids.
So there was definitely a fair bit of a grind

(06:23):
in there, but you know, I still get to do
what I love for a living. We've had some great experiences.
I've still played some decent golf this year as well,
so I've still had some fun. But some of it's
been been very hard, and in that respect's probably been
a little harder than previous years and that in that respect,
but also, you know, I've got to play on the

(06:43):
PJ door. That's been a dream of mine for a
long time. And yeah, I certainly wouldn't swap any of
the experiences I've had, you know, the last couple of
years been able to do that.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
How much of the PGA tour is like full swing
if you've seen.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
That, I haven't watched a lot of it, to be honest,
I find it kind of weird watching people that I
kind of know. It's. The episode I did watch was
the Joel Damon one, and that's probably much more what
it's like week to week for most people. You know,

(07:18):
the top guys are flying private and stuff like that,
and there's a little bit of that, but you know,
for the most part, guys are taking a couple of
connecting flights a week, going week to week, staying at hotels,
you know, just grinding and working pretty hard to try
to keep their job out there. Obviously it's pretty lucrative

(07:38):
if you do well, but you know, there's a lot
of pressure on week to week to make sure you're
still out there and being able to provide for your
family going forward. So I'd say it's a it's probably
a fair representation both ways. A fear present representation for
the absolute top guys we have kind of feel like
they have nothing to worry about, and then a fear

(07:58):
representation for someone like Joel Damon for everybody else out there.

Speaker 1 (08:03):
So the grass is greener in America and there are
palm trees and lots of sunshine, whereas you're in Europe
you're often dealing with wind and links, courses and stuff.
Does it make any difference to you personally?

Speaker 2 (08:15):
Personally, I probably prefer Europe. We've got a bit more
variety in the golf course we play. I've got a
lot of really good friends over here. I've probably struggled
with that in America in that respect. This year, you know,
first year, and it's kind of hard to get to
know people. But it was probably the same in Europe.
If I look back you know, eight nine years ago

(08:36):
when I first came over here, So maybe it's just
a bit of getting used to it over there. But
you know, I've enjoyed it for the most part. In America.
There's definitely been some things that were tougher than expected.
But as I said, I dreamed of doing this for
a long time and it's pretty cool to actually be
able to do it now.

Speaker 1 (08:56):
Good without being too crass about it, I know, in
the last couple of years you pulled in excess of
about five million a year. This year it's a bit
over one million. Does that affect you psychologically when you think, jeez,
that's a hotel bill and a rental car and a trip,
and I need to earn more money or it doesn't matter.

Speaker 2 (09:14):
To be honest, it doesn't matter. I mean, obviously the
last two years has been pretty good in that respect,
but I don't I don't play golf for the money,
and obviously I'm in a pretty pretty good place in
that sense, So you do think about it. If you
miss a few cups in a row. It is a
pretty expensive way to make a living if you're not

(09:36):
making money, and gold's pretty brutal in that if you
missed a cut, you don't make anything, so you know,
in the US it's probably been in an excess of
six or seven thousand dollars a week spending to do it.
And if you do, if you're not making money, it
is it does get expensive quickly. But you know, you
kind of got a trust in the end that I'm

(09:57):
there for a reason. I know I'm good enough to compete.
At some point it's going to turn around, and you
know the rewards are there, and I've been lucky enough.
You know, this year, I've still had a couple of
really good results and covered myself quite easily in the US,
and obviously the last couple of years have been very
good in that regards. So yeah, it's it's still been
a good experience and I'm not worried too much about

(10:19):
the money side of things. It's more about trying to
compete and trying to win tournaments.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
Good on you and go well well. We'll look forward
to catching up Ryan Fox with us out of Europe.
We wish him well for the weekend and for more
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