“It’s a mark of prestige, we call it mana, basically … it was a pretty cool thing for John to do and obviously it means a lot to Rory … it was a nice little story that we had a little bit of Kiwi on him when he was at Augusta.
“I’ve spoken to him several times about his trip down there and he absolutely loved it, and I know he’s keen to go back at some point if he can during his busy schedule, but [it’s] great to have a little piece of New Zealand that he loved. I mean, the New Zealand golf public was absolutely buzzing just to have him in the country.”
Golf buddies Ryan Fox (from left), Jimmy Dunne, Rory McIlroy, Jim Rohrstaff and Ric Kayne. Team New Zealand (Fox and Rohrstaff) earned the victory at Tara Iti.
McIlroy is set to return Downunder later this year for the Australian Open at Royal Melbourne in the first week of December and is among several PGA Tour talents set to line up in Australia this summer.
“Rory seems to love our part of the world. I say our part, that’s the Australasia [region]. He had a great time at Tara Iti last year,” Fox said.
“I’ve already talked to him about coming down to play the Aussie Open, and he can’t be more excited about playing Royal Melbourne in a tournament, so that’s pretty cool.”
Fox himself is among those to have signed on to play the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland the week prior.
While he has so far only signed on for the one event, he, too, could yet join the field for the Australian Open.
“Now, with the PGA Tour season how it’s been, it’s a lot easier to make that decision to come back,” Fox said of returning to play in Australia for the first time since 2022.
“Knowing I’ve got status next year, knowing I can pick my schedule for the PGA Tour next year and I’ve got a nice little eight-week break, I really wanted to come back and play.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.