You don’t have to be a professional golfer to know it’s an expensive sport. 

New Zealand’s highest-ranked men’s golfer, Ryan Fox, has lifted the lid on the pressures he’s faced this year dealing with a hip injury while working to retain his PGA Tour card for 2025. Despite the financial challenges, Fox emphasises that money isn’t the be-all and end-all of his career. 

It’s been a tough year for Fox after two very lucrative years in which he made $11 million. Over that period he had three DP World Tour wins, five runners-up placings, two thirds and three top-10 finishes. On the DP Tour alone, Fox brought home $6m and $5.4m in 2022 and 2023 respectively but has just $735,574 in prize money this year (plus $1,845,332 on the PGA Tour). 

Asked whether the difference impacted him psychologically, Fox told The Mike Hosking Breakfast on Newstalk ZB that money wasn’t the goal. 

“I don’t play golf for the money and I’m in a pretty good place in that sense. 

“You do think about it if you miss a few cuts in a row. It is a pretty expensive way to make a living if you’re not making money – golf’s pretty brutal that if you miss the cut, you don’t make anything. In the US, it’s probably been in excess of six or $7000 a week spent to do it and, if you’re not making money, it does get expensive quickly. 

“I know I’m good enough to compete and at some point it’s going to turn around … This year I’ve still had a couple of really good results and covered myself quite easily in the US. Obviously, the last couple of years have been very good [in regards to prize money]. It’s still been a good experience and I’m not worried too much about the money side of things. It’s more about trying to compete and trying to win tournaments.” 

This week Fox is defending his 2023 BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club. Fox remarkably recovered from a triple bogey seven on the third hole after starting two shots off the lead in the final round, but then went eight-under including six birdies on the back nine to claim a one-shot victory. 

Currently ranked 106th on the FedEx Cup standings – the top 125 retain their card – Fox said the past year had been tough. 

“I’ve done a lot of travel the last couple of years. The US has been difficult this year in that respect,” he said. 

“I think we spent 30 weeks travelling out of a suitcase with no base, 20 of those weeks are with the family and two young kids. So there was definitely a fair bit of a grind in there but I still get to do what I love for a living. We’ve had some great experiences … I got to play on the PGA tour. That’s been a dream of mine for a long time. I certainly wouldn’t swap any of the experiences I’ve had the last couple of years being able to do that.” 

Last week, Fox told the Herald he has been dealing with a hip injury for most of the year which he hadn’t given much thought to, but recently learned the extent of the issue. 

“I got some testing done on that when I was at home and there’s potentially some stuff I need to sort out with that at the end of the year as well,” Fox said of his injury. 

“So, it’s a little bit about managing that going forward with the schedule. Once I get back to the States and if I get the job done pretty quickly, then I’ve got to figure out if I’m going back to Europe [or] if I’m coming home and getting the hip sorted; there’s a fair bit to sort out there, but I certainly can’t make it any worse than it is. I’ve just got to manage it; manage the workload a little bit on it, that’s about it. It’s nothing too serious, so it’s a little bit flexible at the end of the year, let’s put it that way.” 

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