Fox in the hunt but Lions the main talking point

The alignment is perfect. Professional golfer Ryan Fox, son of former New Zealand's 1987 World Cup winning outhalf and current selector, Grant, shoots a 66 in the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Portstewart on the weekend that the All Blacks and the Lions clash in the decisive third test.

The 30-year-old Fox was cornered by the press hounds initially to describe his golf, a beautifully crafted round of seven birdies and just a single dropped shot in testing conditions that propelled him towards the summit of the leaderboard on 11 under par at the halfway point of the tournament.

There was a little chat about returning to Northern Ireland roughly 12 months after winning a European Challenge Tour event at Galgorm Castle. But there was a slight impatience to cut to the chase and elicit an opinion about the third and final game in a rugby test series delicately poised at 1-1.

Ryan’s father, Grant had played in all three tests when New Zealand beat the Lions 2-1 in 1993, winning that final match to claim the honours. The son of an All Black icon didn’t escape the rugby gene, playing at school, but cricket was Ryan’s initial passion until golf usurped his sporting focus.

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In keeping with pretty much the entire New Zealand population and given his father’s involvement in Steve Hansen’s coaching team, he’s a passionate advocate for an All Blacks victory, albeit acknowledging he’s likely to be a minority of one at Portstewart on Saturday morning.

“I didn’t see the first test (when New Zealand won) and I haven’t seen any highlights. Playing on a Saturday for a professional golfer is not a bad thing. The second test, I know the All Blacks and my Dad were disappointed as a result (of the outcome).

“Not wanting to wind too many people up, the All Blacks have always been pretty good at coming back in the face of adversity. I know they did that against the Irish after losing in Chicago, fronting up in Dublin the following week and then beating them.

“I have a feeling that might happen again this week and I hope we have Eden Park on our side. I know we haven’t lost there since I think 1994 (against France, a 37-match winning streak).

“The Lions have an uphill battle to climb there, but they’ll take a lot of confidence from last week. I saw 50 minutes of the game and they played really, really well. I am just hoping for a dry game.

“I am going to be a bit biased here and I think the Lions might have poked the bear a little bit from last weekend. I’m probably the only one here hoping for that, but I will be wearing my All Blacks jersey for sure.”

So as an excellent cricketer and now a professional golfer, not to mention his heritage, he must have had an aptitude for the oval ball. Fox demures: “I wouldn’t say it was a career option, but I played it for 12 years all the way through school.

“I wouldn’t say I was great at it but I was good enough to play first XV rugby. I always enjoyed it but fortunately golf took over for me. I’m not regretting it at the moment.”

So what was his thought process going out to play on Friday morning, hoping for a two-hour window between 8.30am-10.30am to take in the match. “My motivation, it’ll sound a bit weird, was to play really, really well or really, really badly so I could watch the game.”

He chose the former and has no complaints as he can view the game in peace, although it’s unlikely he’ll chose to do so with the Lions heavy support in the tented village. He laughed: “Being the lone ranger All Black supporter on tour it is a little bit tough as well.”

He’s convinced that given a dry sod the All Blacks have the wherewithal to produce an emphatic victory. “I have a bet with a couple of guys that we are going to put 30 past you, so if it’s dry, I’m picking it might be 35-10 or something like that.”

It’s only polite to conclude on the subject of golf and the hope that he can replicate last year’s achievement in Galgorm Castle, albeit in more exalted company this weekend. “Northern Ireland has been really good to me so far. I really liked Galgorm Castle last year and this is even better.

“I think when you have a golf course that you like and suits your eye you can post some good numbers.”

Saturday is all about the numbers, morning and afternoon.

Collated Scores (Irish and Gbr unless stated) 
131 Daniel Im (USA) 64 67, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 64 67 
132 Jon Rahm (Esp) 65 67 133 Ryan Fox (Nzl) 67 66, Matthew Southgate 65 68, Oliver Fisher 65 68 
134 Paul Peterson (USA) 67 67 
135 Anthony Wall 67 68, David Drysdale 66 69, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 67 68, Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 70 65  
136 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 68 68, Peter Uihlein (USA) 69 67, Stephen Gallacher 67 69, Paul Dunne 67 69, David Horsey 67 69, Jamie Donaldson 66 70, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 67 69 
137 Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 71 66, Ashley Chesters 70 67, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 71 66, Lee Slattery 69 68, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 70 67, Justin Rose 67 70, Tommy Fleetwood 70 67, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 67 70, Adrian Otaegui (Esp) 68 69, Bradley Dredge 68 69, Padraig Harrington 68 69  
138 Richie Ramsay 68 70, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 72 66, Callum Shinkwin 68 70, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 68 70, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 67 71, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 69 69, Haotong Li (Chn) 68 70, Gavin Moynihan 67 71, Ian Poulter 68 70, Jordan Smith 69 69, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 70 68, Thomas Detry (Bel) 70 68, Julien Quesne (Fra) 70 68, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 71 67, Matthew Fitzpatrick 66 72 
139 Scott Jamieson 70 69, Peter Hanson (Swe) 68 71, Scott Hend (Aus) 71 68, Duncan Stewart 67 72, Andres Romero (Arg) 68 71, Shane Lowry 68 71, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Esp) 69 70, Soomin Lee (Kor) 68 71  
140 Marcus Armitage 71 69, Joost Luiten (Ned) 71 69, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 71 69, Nathan Kimsey 72 68, Romain Langasque (Fra) 69 71, Simon Dyson 68 72, Sam Walker 69 71, Andy Sullivan 72 68, Chris Hanson 70 70, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 71 69, Eduardo De La Riva (Esp) 70 70, Sam Brazel (Aus) 70 70, Michael Hoey 68 72 
141 Ricardo Gouveia (Por) 69 72, Richard Bland 68 73, Joel Stalter (Fra) 72 69, Paul Waring 68 73, Daniel Brooks 70 71, Damien Perrier (Fra) 72 69, Stuart Manley 69 72, Gary Stal (Fra) 68 73, Pablo Larrazabal (Esp) 68 73, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 71 70, Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 71, Alejandro Canizares (Esp) 70 71, Alexander Knappe (Ger) 72 69, David Higgins 69 72, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 73 68  
142 Jens Fahrbring (Swe) 69 73, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 70 72, Lasse Jensen (Den) 73 69, Graeme McDowell 67 75, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 70 72, Brandon Stone (Rsa) 73 69, Renato Paratore (Ita) 70 72, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 69 73, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 73 69, Paul Lawrie 69 73, David Lipsky (USA) 71 71, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 71 71, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 69 73 
143 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 69 74, Jorge Campillo (Esp) 73 70, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 69 74, Ashun Wu (Chn) 72 71, Chris Paisley 75 68, Simon Khan 72 71, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 69 74, Florian Fritsch (Ger) 75 68, Richard Finch 72 71, Mark Foster 73 70, Alexander Levy (Fra) 73 70 
144 David Howell 74 70, José María Olazábal (Esp) 72 72, Magnus A Carlsson (Swe), 72 72, Robert Rock 70 74, Marc Warren 69 75, Thomas Aiken (RSA) 71 73, James Morrison 71    73, Bernd Ritthammer (Ger) 71    73, Nacho Elvira (Esp) 72 72, Neil O'Briain 72 72, Alexander Björk (Swe) 74 70, Dermot McElroy 70 74, Matt Wallace 71 73
145 Damien McGrane 76 69, Edoardo Molinari (Ita)  70 75, Graeme Storm 73 72, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 69 76, Rory McIlroy 72 73, Simon Thornton 73 72, Johan Carlsson (Swe) 70 75, Romain Wattel (Fra) 71    74, Andrew Johnston 71 74, Tyrrell Hatton 75 70, Gary Hurley 69 76
146 Niclas Fasth (Swe) 73 73, Justin Walters (RSA) 74 72, George Coetzee (RSA) 72 74, SSP Chawrasia (Ind) 75 71, Richard Kilpatrick 74 72, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 73 73, 
147 Nino Bertasio (Ita) 69 78, Jason Scrivener (Aus)  70 77, Kristoffer Broberg (Swe) 72 75, Sebastian Heisele (Ger) 73 74
148  Grégory Havret (Fra) 74 74, Brett Rumford (Aus) 74 74, Colm Moriarty 71 77, Pep Angles (Esp) 76 72 
149 Darren Fichardt (RSA) 75 74, Trevor Immelman (RSA) 73 76, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 72 77, Lee Westwood 76    73, Alvaro Quiros (Esp) 75 74, Shih-Chang Chan (Tpe) 71    78, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 74 75, Jeunghun Wang (Kor) 76 73
150 José-Filipe Lima (Por) 76 74
152 Paul McGinley 76 76, Darren Clarke 74 78
154 Sébastien Gros (Fra) 82 72
Rtd Danny Willett
W/D Jaco Van Zyl (RSA)