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Only three men \u2013 Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Bill Rogers \u2013 have won the British and Australian Open crowns in the same calendar year, with American Rogers the most recent player to have achieved the feat 45 years ago.<\/p>\n
Ryan Fox celebrates after winning the British Open. Picture: Sean M. Haffey\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been the most memorable year of my golfing career, and to finish it by coming back to Australia and playing the Australian Open is something I\u2019m really looking forward to,\u201d Fox said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWinning The Open was obviously a career highlight and something I\u2019ll never forget, but I\u2019ve still got plenty of motivation to finish the year strongly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Australian Open is a tournament with a lot of history and one I\u2019ve always enjoyed being part of.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love coming back to Melbourne and playing on the Sandbelt. The courses are so good, they\u2019re a great test of golf and there\u2019s a real passion for the game in that part of the world. Kingston Heath is a fantastic venue for an Australian Open.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be pretty special to cap off what\u2019s been an incredible year with a strong performance. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to getting back out there, enjoying the atmosphere and giving myself a chance to be in the finish on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully, we\u2019ll see plenty of Kiwis out there in the galleries.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fox\u2019s presence at Kingston Heath will add to a stellar field that already includes back-to-back Masters winner Rory McIlroy, Joaquin Niemann, Corey Conners, Saheeth Theegala, Daniel Hillier, Carlos Ortiz, Sebastian Munoz, Josele Ballester, Cameron Smith and Adam Scott.<\/p>\n
Golf Australia chief executive James Sutherland said Fox\u2019s addition to the Australian Open field was \u201canother major boost\u201d for co-sanctioned Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia and DP World Tour event.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been an incredible year for Fox. Picture: Luke Walker\/Getty imagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cRyan has had an incredible year,\u201d Sutherland said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo have him joining Rory McIlroy, the reigning Masters champion, gives Australian fans a fantastic opportunity to see two of the biggest names in world golf competing at Kingston Heath.<\/p>\n
\u201cRyan has a strong connection with Australia and is always a popular player when he competes here. <\/p>\n
\u201cHis enthusiasm for the Sandbelt and the Australian Open is terrific, and we\u2019re looking forward to welcoming him back in December.\u201d<\/p>\n
PGA of Australia chief executive Gavin Kirkman said Fox had \u201cbuilt his career from our tour\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe now returns as a major champion,\u201d Kirkman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a fantastic story and one that shows what\u2019s possible for players coming through our region.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s an outstanding player and a terrific ambassador for golf in Australia and New Zealand.\u201d<\/p>\n
ST ANDREWS, SCOTLAND – OCTOBER 03: Ryan Fox of New Zealand and playing partner Former cricketer Shane Warne pose for a photograph following their round during Day Four of The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at The Old Course on October 03, 2021 in St Andrews, Scotland. (Photo by Mark Runnacles\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Fox will bring the Claret Jug to Australia \u2014 but regrets that he won\u2019t be able to celebrate his Open victory with the late great Shane Warne, who he teamed up with at the iconic Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still miss Warnie,\u2019\u2019 Fox said of Warne, who died in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cWarnie was an absolute legend and it was an honour to count him as a friend and play golf with him a bunch. I think he would have been pretty keen to celebrate it, no doubt.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has not been any Red Bull and vodka in there but I would say if Warnie was still around it probably would have made its way into the Claret Jug. I know that was his drink of choice.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ryan Fox hopes to finish a \u201cmemorable\u201d 2026 in style by becoming the first man since 1981 to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":934570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":["post-934569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=934569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/934570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=934569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=934569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=934569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}