THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome Ryan Fox to the media center here. 2025 ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic champion. Ryan, I guess we'll start with that playoff, the chip-in there. Can you talk us through that?
RYAN FOX: Yeah, I don't know. A playoff is probably a little different mindset. A bit more like match-play. Obviously I knew the two guys had pretty good birdie chances. I just wanted to give the chip a run at it.
I had a really similar line in regulation and missed the putt right. My caddie, Dean, said to me, Remember, this doesn't break that much. So I just kind of aimed straight at it, and I hit the spot I wanted to hit, which is always a nice thing. About 8 foot out. To be honest, it never looked like it was going anywhere else, and the rest of it is a bit of a blur from there.
Q. You're no stranger of the winner's circle. Four wins on the DP World Tour. How rewarding is it to get your first win on the PGA TOUR today?
RYAN FOX: Very rewarding. I haven't transitioned probably as well as I would have liked over to the PGA TOUR. It was a tough year last year. I managed to just keep my card. It's been a scratchy start this year as well.
I always deep down felt like I could compete with the guys out here. Just haven't been able to put it together. I was very happy to do it this week and give myself a chance on Sunday was nice again. I've been in that position a bunch of times over on DP. It's an uncomfortable feeling, but it's also a good feeling. You know that's where you want to be.
I've had some pretty good shots down the stretch over in Europe. It was nice to do the same thing here. Regardless if I would have come out with a win or not today, I was really happy with how I played, and I could have taken a lot out of it. To get that win is extra special.
THE MODERATOR: We'll take some questions.
Q. Can you just talk about your experience here in Myrtle Beach and at the Dunes Club with this course. It seemed like it played really well this week. Just talk about what it was like to win here at Myrtle Beach.
RYAN FOX: I loved it here last year. I had a good week as well. I think I finished tied fourth. Brought the family here both years. They love it. The beach and the pool and stuff like that, it's just perfect for them.
I think the general consensus from all the guys the last two years is they love the golf course, and I'm certainly one of those. Everyone comes here maybe not with super high expectations because we haven't heard much about the golf course, and I know from last year everyone absolutely loved it. This year the guys that hadn't played it before had heard good things, and it lived up to the expectations.
It's always nice coming back to a golf course that you like, that you've got good memories of. Last year I did some fishing around the golf course. This year I did some fishing. Susan can attest to after the pro-am on Wednesday. Caught a couple of flounder.
Just a nice relaxing week. I spent plenty of time with the kids on the beach and the water park and stuff like that. It's amazing what being happy off the golf course can do for on the golf course.
Q. I think I'm the only one in this room except for you that was at the BMW when you won. Can you just talk about why the transition has been so difficult?
RYAN FOX: Yeah, it's obviously just a different country, different culture. For me I was really comfortable in Europe. I'd been out there, like, seven or eight years, knew how everything worked, knew the tournaments I wanted to play, knew a lot of the golf courses.
Coming over here last year, everything was new. New golf courses, new cities. The travel is a bit different. We didn't have a base over here last year or in '23 when I played a little bit as well. That made it really hard. We were always based in London. Made travel really, really easy. Again, knew how everything worked.
I think last year I spent 20 weeks on the road with two kids under 4. While it was great fun, I certainly wouldn't recommend anyone do it for very long. It was hard work, and I think that affected the on the golf course stuff.
Yeah, I think it's just a comfort level. The level is a little bit stronger out here as well. I think the top guys in Europe or on DP have proven they can compete out here, no problem, but I think the field is just a little bit deeper out here.
You're playing a little bit of different style of golf. There's lots of little things that kind of go together that make it tough. I remember playing here with Bob MacIntyre last year, and he was struggling. Not enjoying it over here. Wanted to go back home. Spent three weeks at home and then went and won Canadian Open less than a month later.
I think sometimes it's just getting used to a different place. All of that stuff and the European guys coming over have taken a little bit of time to do that, and I think that's fine, but there's a lot of guys playing well as well in the last couple of years. It's great to see plenty of guys succeeding in that regard, keeping the cards, and contending for tournaments because we always knew on the DP World that our top guys could compete with the guys over here.
Q. The other thing is today obviously with the exception of the chip-in on the first playoff hole, can you talk us through some of the places you felt like you may have got away with something or, in turn, did something good that propelled you to where you are?
RYAN FOX: To be honest, I hit it really good all day. I think I only missed two fairways and a few greens. I definitely got away with one on 5. Kind of got stuck in between clubs and mis-hit a 7-iron and ended up with a nice little chip. Hit a good one to 4 foot and made that.
Probably the shot of the day for me was the one into 17. I made a couple of nice birdies on the par 3s. On the back nine I drove it on 10 and two-putted there. Sorry, the par-5s on the back nine. Hit it on 10. Made a nice two-putt birdie there.
I was kind of plodding along without really doing anything special and got up on 7, 8. It was a nice number. Hit 9-iron in there and hit it in there to probably 6 or 8 feet. That was the one that felt like I -- that gave me a real chance to win the golf tournament.
I didn't hit a great drive up the last and made a scratchy par, but was happy to get in the playoff. Obviously the chip-in was a bit of luck. I don't know. Stand up and hit it, and I was pretty happy to see it go in.
Q. While a lot of us were focused on Higgs and Hughes coming down the stretch, you were over on the range working on your game. Can you kind of tell us what your mindset was as that was going on? How much were you paying attention to what was happening on the course, and how much was just getting in a good place mentally to go back out if you had that chance?
RYAN FOX: To behonest, the hitting balls was just to stop my brain from racing, to be honest. I don't think I actually thought about too much on the range other than just -- I would have been a nervous wreck waiting for those guys to putt out.
The guys on the range, there was plenty of guys telling me what was going on. Obviously 18 is not too far away from the range, so I kind of knew what was going on. Then could tell by the crowd reaction whether the putt went in or not, and pretty much the only shots that I actually took seriously on the range were the last few drivers I hit at the end because that was when I knew I was actually going to be in a playoff.
You don't want to be pessimistic, but you kind of figure someone is going to hole a putt on the last. That's what normally happens. I kind of said to my caddie, Regardless of what happens, I did all I could control really well out there. I was very chuffed to get another chance. Obviously it worked out in my favor.
Yeah, as I said, I was really happy just to do what I could control really well down the stretch. I wouldn't even call it a warm-up on the range. It was just to clear my head. It's pretty easy just bashing balls and not thinking about it.
Q. What was it like after the win to have your wife and daughters there to celebrate?
RYAN FOX: Yes, pretty cool. Obviously it's Mother's Day today. My wife sort of jokingly -- on Friday I said, What can I get you for Mother's Day? She goes, Well, a trophy would be nice. I guess I lived up to my end of the bargain there.
To have the wife and kids here is amazing. I mean, you saw my two little girls, Isobel and Margo, running out on the green like crazy chickens. I don't think they quite understand what's going on, but yeah, it's pretty cool to have those photos, have those memories of them there.
I had a couple with them in Europe on DP. It's great to get one over here with them all here. It certainly makes it a little sweeter that there's someone there to share it with. Obviously I have my caddie, Dean, whose been on my bag a long time too, but to have the family there is extra special.
Yeah, got a little bit of changing stuff to do, which is interesting with a couple of kids instead of flying tomorrow morning, but that's good problems to have. I'm just hoping they're not too excited, and they're easy to get to sleep tonight.
Q. We talked about when Rory won the Masters, and all of a sudden there's a lot of pressure off of him. Obviously you've won before, but when you won in DP World, it was a little different situation where you were in your career and your game, I think. After these two years getting this win, does it feel like it takes the pressure off, and you feel like you can do something -- make it a little easier for you going forward?
RYAN FOX: Yeah, definitely. I kind of had a similar thing happen in '22. I had had a couple of tricky years through COVID and won in Ras Al Khaimah, and that took all the pressure off. I had a really great year after that.
So certainly hoping the same thing happens this year, but in this game you don't get to win very often. You don't get job security very often either, so that's certainly nice to have that in the back of my mind and can feel like for the rest of the year I can kind of freewheel it a little bit.
Yeah, hopefully that takes some pressure off. We'll see how it goes in the next few weeks, but yeah, it feels like a monkey off my back, that's for sure. Maybe not quite as much as Rory at Augusta, but yeah, it's certainly nice to get a win out here.
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