Phil Tataurangi: Kiwi golfer on Ryan Fox's performance in the PGA Championship following the Myrtle Beach Classic

Kiwi golfer Ryan Fox has held his nerve to finish strong in the second round of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. 

After starting the round two-over through three, Fox has bounced back with three birdies on the back nine to card and even-par round. He sits in a share of six at four-under for the tournament, four shots behind leader Jhonattan Vegas. 

This follows a week after he became just the 9th Kiwi male player to win a USPGA Tour event with his success at the Myrtle Beach Classic. 

Another member of that exclusive club is Phil Tataurangi, who joined Piney to discuss Fox's good form. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from newstalk z'b Keep.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
We Golf for Ryan Fox has held his nerve to
finish strongly in the second round of the PGA Championship
at Quail Hollow. After starting the second round two over
through three holes, Ryan Fox bounced back with three birdies
on the back nine to cart an even par round
and stay four under for the tournament. That has him
in a share of seventh, just four shots behind leader

(00:34):
Jonathan Vegas. This, of course, a week after he became
just the ninth Kiwi mail to win a USPGA Tour
event at the Myrtle Beach Classic. Another member of that
very exclusive club is Philed tato Angy, who joins us
now now a golf analyst with Sky Sport and other platforms.
Ryan Fox wouldn't even be at the PGA Championship, Phil

(00:54):
if he had one last weekend. Would the way he
played at Myrtle Beach have flowed onto this weekend or
does it not work that way?

Speaker 3 (01:02):
Well, I certainly can. It's not an automatic. You don't
start the week with a couple of birdies already in
the bag just because you won last week, you've got
to earn it all over again, Piney. But nothing quite
like having a little bit of form and a bit
of confidence coming in, albeit probably with the batteries running
a little bit low, with just all of the coming

(01:23):
down off of the high So although hey, look you
might have had that little bit of extra belief and
a little bit of extra confidence as are saying that
the ball's going where I want it to go. The
performance through the first couple of days here is being outstanding,
I think from Ryan, not just because of the golf

(01:46):
course and the tournament, but it can be energy setting
when you're in contention and then you end up getting
over the over the line you achieve a career goal
just being able to reset and recharge the batteries and
refocus and do that in one of the four biggest
tournaments in the world and really position himself nicely here

(02:07):
for the last two days. He's done exceptionally well.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
What has he done well in these two rounds. He
brings the confidence, as you say, those sorts of things,
but in terms of the way he's played his golf
to cut a four hunder par first round and an
even past second round, what's he done particularly well.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
I think if anything, the intangible here is managers energy
and I was quite happy just to see today that
after a tough start and look plenty you win last week.
You get all of the distractions with the pets on
the back and just mentally, just even in yourself, when
you achieve something that you've been striving for for years,

(02:47):
it can take up your time and your energy. And
this is on the back of already playing the last
four weeks in a row and so managing his practice
coming into the first round and not using too much
energy on course major championship, the golf course times you
can just drain the battery a little bit. He's done

(03:08):
really nice job of that. And look he's for me
and Brian's always had the game to excel in the US.
Hits the ball a long way and if he can
get the flat stick to work, then the rest of
his game is capable enough. He's hit a lot of
greens in regulation and has scrambled nicely through the first

(03:30):
two days of the tournament. And that's a pretty good combination,
especially on a golf course like Quail Hollow's third longest
course on the PGA Tour this year, so all parts
of his game are tidy. You know that we can
hit it a long way, but if you can get
the scoring clubs to work, then he probably will be

(03:50):
you know, right at the point the end of it,
come Monday morning.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
Exciting stuff. Just on your experience, and you've alluded to
it a couple of times. They're about, you know, coming
down off the high of achieving something historic, something very
few KEYWI players have ever done. After you won your
PGA Tour event Vegas in two thousand and two, what
was the aftermath of that?

Speaker 1 (04:09):
Like?

Speaker 3 (04:09):
What mean you?

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Were you terrible in your next tournament?

Speaker 3 (04:12):
I can tell us about it. I won in Vegas, Piney,
but sadly, sadly, already had the flight book to come home,
and so it was straight to the airport and didn't
even change my clothes. And so when you walked through
the airport, the customs officer says, you've got some golf

(04:32):
shoes here? I said, yeah, I look down here there
they are right there. So, although we had a comfortable
seat on the way home, didn't ever change of clothes,
and so it was a it was a bit of
a bend there. It was a bit of a celebration,
but it was back here in New Zealand for a
few days afterwards and didn't have to play for another
month after that. But with other tournaments, and maybe it's

(04:55):
not even just winning, to be fair, even just being
in contention and having that the engine running just a
little bit with a few more reds in it, you know,
just you know, you take that aim last night with
the Canes in the Highlanders. There's a lot of anticipation
for getting to that, you know, the final few minutes,
the final few holes of a tournament, and you're not

(05:17):
too sure which way the result is going to go.
So you've got to have some tools and strategies to decompress,
to be able to put that behind you and to
be able to reset. And that's not always that easy
when you continually get reinforced in the locker room on
the range, you know, the all of your playing partners,

(05:41):
that just reinforcing that you've achieved something that not only
very few do, but that a lot of other people
have expected you to or thought you had had the
belief that you could for a long while. So being
able to just put that aside and then tear it
up in one of the four major tournaments of the
work of the season is bloody hard. It's hard to

(06:03):
put it behind you. And so I'm impressed by Foxy's
ability through this first couple of days. Usually it's the
second round. The first round you're writing that adrenaline and
you're writing, you know, you've only just had a couple
of days from losting a trophy, and so you get
through the first round okay. But that second round today

(06:23):
was the real test for him. He gets a bit
of a rest, he gets a late tea time tomorrow,
and now he's in absolutely in competitive made over the
next couple of days trying to pick off one of
the biggest tournaments in the world.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
Indeed, well it's finished with what might happen over the
next two days. You talk about it being a very
long course. The leader Jonathan Vegas at eight under after
two rounds. What does a long course due to a
four round score? So, I mean, what will win this
fourteen under fifteen under or will it be less than that?

Speaker 3 (06:53):
Yeah, it's about the weather. Unfortunately, in North Carolina at
this time of the year, they are prone to some
of the spring storms, and so that was part of
the preparation here course was took a lot of water
through the first couple of days, and we look at
the full cast for tomorrow and there's a chance for

(07:15):
some more storms to come through. So that's going to
dictate things a little bit. It could be disruptive with
tea times, that could be disruptive with getting getting play stopped.
And so again that's about kind of managing your energy,
managing the things that you can't control, and your approach
to that. I'm not expecting the scores to go that

(07:40):
low yet, maybe twelve under it might get to but
this is a beast of a golf course and saw
with mclroy a couple of late bogies today. They will
they'll start tightening the screws for the last couple of
rounds with the setup I expect, and I think, if Ryan,
what are the four behind right now? If he can

(08:00):
shoot a couple of rounds underpar over the next couple
of days, he will be in with a shout. I think.
Come come Monday morning.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
Exciting times. Another excellent weekend of golf viewing coming up.
Fill always love chatting golf with you, mate, Thanks for
joining us on the show.

Speaker 3 (08:15):
Thanks Finie, enjoyed it.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
Man all the best, mate, Phil, I thought, ang you there,
went on the PGA to himself one of only nine
key weis to do so in golf analysts. You can
watch Ryan Fox in action in the third round of
the PGA Championship live on sky Sport one and stream
it on Skysport Now from five o'clock tomorrow morning.

Speaker 1 (08:34):
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