Olympic dreams come true for Fox and Kofstad

A day of high drama at the D+D REAL Slovakia Challenge – which started with Garrick Porteous shooting a course record 61 in the second group out – finished with double celebrations for Espen Kofstad as he won the tournament to seal a place in the field at this summer’s Olympic Games.

Joining the Norwegian in Rio will be Ryan Fox, whose tied fourth finish was just enough to edge out Mike Hendry, who himself had finished fourth overnight in Japan to set Fox the target of finishing seventh or better.

For much of the day, and with the qualification deadline falling after this tournament at Penati Golf Resort, it looked like neither would get in, with Kofstad’s equation even simpler, but tougher – only a top two finish would suffice.

A flurry of late birdies saw the 29 year old reach 17 under par overall and set a clubhouse lead that Romain Langasque could only tie, so when the pair set off for a play-off – won by Kofstad on the second extra hole – his spot in Rio was already guaranteed.

“I should have locked up the place right now so it’s all good,” he said afterwards. “I’ve been going for it all year, and getting closer and closer to getting in, but it’s all about playing well and winning golf tournaments.

“I left it late, until the last hole, but winning solves a lot of things and I think it now has solved this one and got me into Rio.”

Fox, however, was floundering. On a hot still day, and with Porteous having already shown that scoring was possible, the 29 year old played par golf from the third hole until the 14^th, consequently moving backwards through the field as birdies dropped elsewhere.

But in dramatic style, the big-hitting Kiwi made staggering back-to-back eagles on holes 14 and 15 – the 783-yard par six, the longest hole in Europe – to pick up four shots and leap up the leaderboard.

Though he missed birdie chances coming in, his 15 under par total was enough for tied fourth, and his Olympic involvement will add another chapter to the remarkable Fox family sporting history, becoming as he will the third generation to represent his country.

“It was a pretty frustrating day up until the 14^th,” he said. “I’d hit it to inside 30ft on every hole, hit a couple really close, and not made a thing. If I hit a good drive on 14 I can get it to front edge and I got it absolutely perfect today, then holed a nice little 20 footer off the fringe.

“I figured after that I had a chance, if I could get to 16 or 17 under par, and obviously 15 is an eagle chance as well – I hit three good shots down there, put a nine iron to within ten feet and holed that and thought I had a pretty good chance to win the tournament.

“Fair play to Espen, he was in the same boat as me, we both needed to play exceptionally well – well, he needed to play exceptionally well, I needed to play pretty well – to get that Olympic spot.

“I was looking at it this morning and I’d heard that if Mike Hendry finished outside the top eight I didn’t need to finish in the ranking points to get in. Obviously he finished fourth, so that made life a bit more stressful today, and I’ve got two holes to thank for it.

“Early I struggled with it a little bit I think. Today I really struggled with the putter, but when I holed for eagle on 14 my mentality switched a bit – I was only a couple back and instead of playing for a top five I was going for the win.

“I hit some great shots coming in but didn’t hole a putt, but I guess it was easier at that point when I was chasing a win rather than trying to hold onto a score like I had been doing earlier in the day.

“The Olympics is the pinnacle sporting event worldwide and I can’t turn down that opportunity, I’d love to be able to do it – the way it’s going, golf may only be in it this one time.

“To be able to say I’ve represented my country, I’d be the third generation of my family to represent New Zealand in three different sports – my mum’s dad played cricket for New Zealand in the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s and my old man [Grant Fox] obviously played for the All Blacks, so that would be a pretty cool thing to do, to be an Olympian and part of our family legacy.”