Ryan Fox will take some catching at Ras Al Khaimah Classic
Not to jinx him, but New Zealander looks out of reach of chasing pack at Al Hamra
The DP World Tour looks set to crown its first wire-to-wire winner of the 2022 season and cap a fine four weeks in the UAE.
Not to jinx the man, but New Zealand’s Ryan Fox looks out of reach of the chasing pack after a third scintillating round at Al Hamra Golf Club put him six strokes ahead at the UAE Swing-closing Ras Al Khaimah Classic on Saturday, signing for a 65 that had more red than the crowd at a Manchester United v Liverpool clash.
Kiwi Fox popped in nine birdies — offset by two bogeys — to add to the 16 he had already racked up over the previous two days and is now 18 holes away from his second DP World Tour crown.
“My head’s in a pretty good place,” Fox said. “Ask me that on the first tee tomorrow and I might have a slightly different answer but I felt like I had really good control over the ball today, only hit a couple of bad shots and holed some putts as well.
“So I’ve put myself exactly where I want to be and it’s all on me tomorrow, someone’s going to have to do something really low or I’m going to have to play poorly so hopefully I can keep playing how I’ve played in the past few days and put it out of reach.
“I think I’ve made six bogeys all week and bounced back every time, so I don’t know why. It’s just felt like one of those weeks where every part of my game has just worked and when I’ve hit a bad shot I haven’t let it get to me too much. “I’ve always had something for the week that hasn’t worked, whether it’s the putter or I haven’t done everything else very well. But everything has seemed to click and hopefully I can keep that going for one more day.”
Fox’s seven-under 65 on Saturday took him to 19-under for the tournament, with his closest challengers in a chasing pack way back on 13-under and seemingly out of reach.
Not to jinx the man, but many stranger things have happened on the DP World Tour (ask Martin Kaymer, who famously blew a 10-stroke lead in Abu Dhabi).
Serial winner Pablo Larrazabal, fellow Spaniard and UAE specialist Adri Arnaus, big-hitting Pole Adrian Meronk and an in-form Scott Jamieson — who led for three days at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship — are in said pack behind Fox.
“At the end of the day I just need to go out there and stay focused on what I have to do on those last few holes if I have to do something special, we’ll go out and do it,” said Arnaus. “It seems like we’ll have to make a bit of a charge but I’m trying to stay present and do my best.”
That quartet are one ahead of Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre, who has been in fine form in Ras Al Khaimah for the past two weeks, Japan’s Kawamura Masahiro and Marcel Siem of Germany.
Lurking on 11-under are eight more optimistic hopefuls, ready to pounce if Fox slips up on Sunday. They include George Coetzee, Jason Scrivener, Connor Syme and Matthieu Pavon.
Not to jinx the man but surely the sly Fox is just too far away — six strokes, sevens strokes, eight? Just ask Martin Kaymer ...