Professional golfer Ryan Fox, of Beachlands, has impressed in his first ever Masters tournament over the weekend, finishing in a tie for 26th place.
The Masters is one of the four major championships in professional golf and is held annually at the Augusta National Golf Club.
The world No 37 finished with a score of even-par over the four rounds after torrential rain and flu symptoms disrupted his tournament.
Fox was in a three-way tie for 14th at three-under par during his third round when play was disrupted by bad weather at the course in Georgia.
Fox revealed that he had woken up with flu-like symptoms after his second round and he was “definitely down on energy levels the last couple of days”.
“If you’d have given me even-par at the start of the week, I would have been pretty dang happy, Fox said as he walked off the course after his final round.
Fox finished higher than some of the world’s best golfers such as Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and Cameron Smith.
He takes home more than $138,000 for his efforts.
It was Jon Rahm of Spain that took out this year’s tournament, finishing at 12-under and taking home the prestigious green jacket as well as $3.2 million in prize winnings.
This was his first Masters victory and second major triumph following his win in the 2021 US Open.
Rahm finished four shots clear of Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson in second place.
Fox also competed in the traditional Par three contest at Augusta the day before the first round of the Masters- where he had his father and All Black great Grant Fox caddying for him.
“Hopefully I get another crack at it in the next few years and can learn from this experience. Regardless, it’s been an awesome one,” Fox says.
