“Getting involved with the team has been great. I’ve got a lot of guys I know really, really well on the team. It’s been really easy to fit in both with the captains and the players. We’ve had a lot of dinners and a lot of team meetings and stuff like that. It feels really organic this week that we’ve got this collective goal we all want to achieve and everyone’s buying into it. It feels like you’re playing with your mates, and it’s a lot of fun.”
On their arrival to Chicago the team were given a massive selection of International-branded merchandise, which Fox shared on Instagram.
Ryan Fox’s haul of Team International kit ahead of the President’s Cup. Photo / @ryanfoxgolfer
Despite being one of the quicker players on the PGA Tour, Fox doesn’t think it will affect the rhythm of his teammates but is wary the Americans may try to slow him down to get in his head.
“I don’t think so. I don’t think there’s too many guys who play at my pace on Tour, and that’s fine. I know Geoff [International captain Ogilvy] and all the assistants spent a lot of time getting the pairings sorted, and I don’t think pace of play came into it at all. It was kind of how the games fit and how the personalities fit.
“I would imagine on the US side they might try to slow-play me a little bit, but that’s probably no different than what it’s like every day on Tour. Hopefully I can find a way to deal with that pretty easily.”
Fox is coming off a strong showing at the BMW PGA Championship in Wentworth where he briefly held the lead on the final day before finishing sixth.
He said he was looking forward to the match play though he hasn’t played the format much in recent years. His maiden European Tour title in 2019 was in a match-play event called the World Super 6 in Perth while he grew up playing Interprovincial in New Zealand, which was match-play.
“I haven’t played a lot of match play as a pro, but I would say the majority of guys now probably say that. Scotty [Adam Scott] might be one that has played a fair bit, playing the match play so many years.
“What makes a great match player? It’s someone that’s just really competitive. I think it’s a different format, right? You’re not trying to beat the golf course like you are every week in a professional event, like it’s – you’re just trying to beat your man. If 74 beats 75 or 64 beats 65, like it really doesn’t matter.”
“I think it’s going to be a long golf course, and it looks like we’re going to get some wind this week. I enjoy playing in hard conditions, so I’m kind of looking forward to that, like having to hit a lot of tough shots.
“Generally length, I’m not as long as I used to be, but generally length is not an issue for me. Hopefully that puts me in good stead round here. Yeah, I putted great last week at Wentworth as well. Hopefully I can take that into this week.
“Obviously holing putts is fairly important in match play. It was nice to feel – nice to see a few go in last week.”
Teammate Tom Kim, ranked 31st in the world and a four-time winner on the PGA Tour, said having Fox as a major winner in the side gave them all a boost.
“I told him after he was on the team … man, really can’t believe this is your first one. He’s been around for a long time. But I think for the Internationals to have a major champion, I think momentum-wise it’s a pretty big thing to know we have a major winner,” Kim said.
“Gives me personally confidence to go out there and know that these guys have my back. And I think I can kind of speak for the rest of my team, having him as the champion, we all feed off that.”
Action begins on Friday NZT with four-ball (also known as best-ball) where two players from each team square off with the best score on each hole counting.