\u201cAt the functions the last couple of nights I took the jug out and everyone\u2019s really excited to see it and get photos and look at it, and it\u2019s just cool to be able to do that, right?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not just randomly taking it to the golf course and leaving it there, but like the Presidents Cup dinner last week I asked [Australian golfer] Adam Scott and also [international team captain] Geoff Ogilvy … \u2018I\u2019ve got the jug with me, do you want me to bring it?\u2019 And they\u2019re like, ‘ Absolutely\u2018 … they said I\u2019m going to be the first major champion or reigning major champion in the international team since Jason Day in 2017, so that\u2019s pretty cool to do that.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could see all the guys in the team were pretty excited to just have a look at it and see it, so it just sat in the background and then Min being Min, was a bit cheeky and gave me some stick on social media as he should.\u201d <\/p>\n
The only player publicly confirmed in the international team is South Korean Si Woo Kim, with Fox currently second in the standings. With the top six at the end of the PGA Tour season getting automatic selection before another six are selected by the team captain, the Kiwi is all but assured of earning his place as one of the first six.<\/p>\n
For now, however, Fox\u2019s focus was on achieving a different goal for the year and qualifying for next week\u2019s Tour Championship.<\/p>\n
To do so, he will need to maintain his top-30 position in the FedEx Cup rankings through this week\u2019s BMW Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St Louis.<\/p>\n
Following last week\u2019s tournament in Memphis, the field was cut from the top 70 to the top 50, with 20 more players having their season ended after this weekend.<\/p>\n
Fox had his struggles last week \u2013 playing some good golf but being punished on the greens \u2013 to finish in a tie for 58th at five-over-par for the week.<\/p>\n
However, he came home with a strong final round and enters a tournament in preferable conditions and currently at No 25 in the FedEx Cup standings.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say this golf course suits me a little better than last week. Even though I\u2019m based in Florida and play on Bermuda all the time, I still can\u2019t figure out Bermuda grass, on the greens especially, and I think that was a part of last week, whereas this week is much more similar to what we would play at home [in New Zealand].<\/p>\n
\u201cThey call it zoysia fairways here, but it\u2019s kind of like playing off kikuyu, really, and they\u2019ve got bent greens which are a lot easier to figure out \u2013 well, I find [them] a lot easier to figure out \u2013 so hopefully that puts me in good stead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI played the PGA Championship here in 2018 and had a pretty reasonable week, from memory. It\u2019s a golf course that I\u2019ve got good memories of, and I\u2019ve enjoyed playing nine holes the last few days, where we\u2019re definitely out of the heat a little bit … apparently quite surprising for St Louis this time of year. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to have temperatures around 30 degrees, which is a whole lot better than the 37, 38 we had in Memphis last week. I think that probably didn\u2019t help me too much, so I think all in all this week\u2019s shaping up hopefully to be a bit better than last week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan Fox tee times <\/p>\n
Round 1: 3.05am Friday. Round 2: 5.42am Saturday. <\/p>\n