Ryan Fox has set his sights firmly on finishing top of the DP World Tour Rankings in Partnership with Rolex as he aims for a third win of the season at the 2022 Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters.
The New Zealander claimed the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship title last time out, adding to his win at the Ras Al Khaimah Classic in February to move into third in the Rankings behind Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick.
He also secured three runner-up finishes and three other top tens between his victories and with just five events of the season remaining, he is looking for a big finish to be New Zealand's first European Number One.
"I just won’t change anything," he said. "I know that sounds simple and obvious to an extent, but I won’t let any of that stuff get to my head.
"I’ve done a good job this year of just trying to beat the golf course every week, not worrying about any external stuff and just go out and try to do the same thing every week, have a care-free attitude on the golf course.
"If I can keep doing that for the rest of the year, hopefully I can challenge Rory and Fitz for the title at the end of the year. I’ve got to do something special to beat those guys that have had fantastic years and are top ten players in the world for a reason."
After lifting the trophy at St Andrews in his last appearance, Fox now comes to another of the world's most iconic golf courses as he takes on Real Club Valderrama.
His family were present for his win at the Home of Golf and after what has been a chaotic few weeks off the golf course, Fox knows he now faces some adversity on it over one of the toughest layouts in the world.
"We had a bit of a messy three weeks with my parents up, had a knee injury, lost my golf clubs going to France.
"Mum and dad had come up for four tournaments and ended up watching three rounds of golf in the first three weeks, so I was just keen to give them some weekend golf and something to go home with. Don’t think I could have done any better than a family photo with the trophy on the Swilcan Bridge – that’s as good as it gets.
"The toughest thing about this course is that it’s narrow, cork trees everywhere. It’s probably softened the last few years, so it feels a bit less claustrophobic than it did when I first played here in 2016.
"You’ve got small, fast greens, there’s some rough this year around the greens so that makes the short game really hard, it tests every part of your game.
"You don’t need to be long but you need to be extremely accurate and patient. You need a bit of luck as well.
"It’s a course that’s really fun to come to a couple of times a year, but if you had to play a course like this every week, the psychiatrist bills for the Tour would be pretty high."
