But in the end, it was a moment provided by a Sir John Key fairway wood on the par-three fifth that ensured the event would see a second year.
“The only thing that really got us into year two was John Key’s hole-in-one, to be honest,” Fox reflects.
“That went a bit viral and got a bit more eyes on the event after the fact and, I think from a personal point of view, we proved the proof of concept very well, that the event would work, but we didn’t really have enough buzz around the event beforehand.
“But obviously, after John’s hole-in-one, it kind of went a bit crazy and that gave us enough to have a go at year two. The rest is history really. It’s got bigger and better every year and I think this year’s promising to be the best and biggest one yet.”
Sir John Key is mobbed after his hole-in-one during the inaugural Chasing The Fox event in 2022. Photo / Photosport
For the past four years, Chasing the Fox has been an end-of-year celebration of golf, sticking to the same concepts of invited teams trying to beat Fox over six holes. It has evolved each year, with Fox now playing alongside a teammate. Fellow Kiwi pro Daniel Hillier is returning this year to defend the title they won together in 2025, playing ambrose against teams of three, while last year’s edition also saw the inclusion of several other Kiwi pros.
“It’s a really nice way to showcase Kiwi golf. We’ve got a lot of good players around the world now,” Fox says.
“This year I think the focus was really to make it a showcase of New Zealand golf more than anything else. We’ve still got a few names to announce for the pro side of things, but all of the pros that played last year I know really enjoyed it and I think they want to come back, which is great and obviously having Dan there, from my point of view, was amazing.
“Hopefully, he joins me on the PGA Tour next year, that would be great. He’s starting to show what we all believed he could do and to be able to play in that event with him. To get a win for us last year as well, I felt was pretty important. It’s great to have him back and looking forward to trying to defend the Chasing the Fox title for this year.”
Originally, the concept for the event looked a little bit different.
Back in 2022, Randell, who runs promotions company Podis, saw an opportunity in the golf space for a sports entertainment product. His initial plan was to get the country’s top male golf – Fox – and top female golfer – Dame Lydia Ko – and build a Ryder Cup-styled teams event over six holes.
Ryan Fox and event promoter Nick Randell launched Chasing The Fox in 2022 as an end-of-year celebration of golf. Photo / Photosport
Randell says the concept “chopped and changed” and, while they couldn’t get Ko, they stayed in touch with Fox and landed on the idea for Chasing The Fox, where teams of invited celebrities were tasked with trying to beat the Kiwi star, while raising money for charity partners.
At the time of the first edition, Fox was yet to break out onto the PGA Tour, but was ranked inside the world’s top 30 golfers after a strong season on the DP World Tour.
“For whatever reason, it seemed to work where Ryan Fox essentially tied with Team Black Caps on two under, and we’re like, ‘Okay, this has got legs’,” Randell reflects.
“But I guess the main factor was the Sir John Key hole-in-one moment, where that absolutely went bonkers after, and this globally viral moment, which, again, not many events can say that a former Prime Minister can get a hole-in-one like that. Essentially, that’s what got eyes on the concept … it genuinely probably wouldn’t have got to year two without that moment.”
Over the past few years, Chasing The Fox has given fans the opportunity to see Ryan Fox in action on his home course. Photo / Photosport
With a bit more buzz around the competition, they decided to run it back for another year, and it has got bigger and bigger every year to now being a televised event with thousands of fans lining the fairways at Royal Auckland and Grange to watch the action.
It has coincided with Fox’s own profile rising on the global stage, 2026 seeing the 39-year-old come into the event after his biggest year yet – winning his first major, claiming the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in July, finishing in the top 30 on the PGA Tour and currently ranked at No 23 in the world.
“There’s no other athlete that you could call and he’s genuinely so generous with his time. He’s always looking at ways to give back,” Randell says of Fox.
“He did it for nothing. And at that point I feel like he was still, you know, Ryan Fox, the son of Grant, who plays on the European Tour. Where it’s got to, his profile and I guess the world’s sort of found out what his personality is and how amazing a guy he is, and it is special to promote an event with the Fox last name, where all these amazing legends can come together.
“It’s uniquely Kiwi that you can do this. These guys come together, we all do it just to celebrate all these different sporting seasons and golf and Ryan Fox. This year’s going to be no different. It’s going to be a very special moment in December.”
Ryan Fox and Daniel Hillier will return to defend their Chasing The Fox title at Royal Auckland and Grange this December. Photo / Photosport
In terms of setting up the course, Randell says they are careful not to encroach and cause too much of a disruption for members. While the scale of the event has grown each year and set-up takes a week, members can still play a round at the 27-hole course up until the day prior, and the event set-up is packed down the day after.
“Outside of Chasing the Fox the day itself, we don’t close and be too disruptive to members, but you can’t please them all,” Randell says.
“I would say for a large majority, hopefully, we’ve created something that they can be proud of as well. Their course has all these eyeballs on it, it raises this money for charity, it’s their home member, Ryan Fox, coming back to his home course to take on all these stars. It’s pretty unique for a club to have that.
“Working with the club over the last few years, year one they gave us a nice runway to have the course for free and give us a bit of momentum as we built it and, hopefully, where we are right now, there are a lot of benefits to the club having it and I think they far outweigh any negatives.”
This year’s event will see some returning teams – She Loves Golf, the Black Caps, the Warriors and a Legends team all confirmed. There will also be new teams involved. So far, it has been confirmed one of those will be a team of content creators, while it’s understood there will be some involvement from Australian sporting bodies too. KiwiBank has also come onboard as the event’s naming rights sponsor.
Kiwi pro Amelia Garvey played in Team She Love Golf in the 2025 edition, alongside Tania Tare and Vivian Lu. Photo / Photosport
Fox says it has a big compliment that people have been keen to sign on for an event with his name on it since its inception in 2022. Some, including Key and Olympic great Eric Murray, have kept coming back and have featured in every edition so far. Randell says Key will always be invited back, given his role in helping the event get to where it is today.
“We had a lot of people that love golf in there as well and a few people that I knew really well personally,” Fox says of the event’s first year.
“Obviously, some of the Black Caps I’d played I’d spent a little bit of time with, spent a lot of time with Eric Murray, who I think is an absolute legend for what he does. I mean, you host a golf day [and] it feels like Eric Murray’s going to be there and full credit to the man for giving up his time. He’s been brilliant for a lot of things that I’ve done, a lot of things that have been done in New Zealand, so I’ve got to give him a personal shout-out.
“It was great to have those guys jump on board early and, obviously, that gave a bit more weight to the event. We all had a lot of fun. It worked really well the first year and it helped [that] I played really well as well that first year with my own ball.
“Then obviously having Sir John Key have his first hole-in-one on camera in front of a bunch of All Blacks, his son and a crowd of a few hundred people was pretty special and that’s really what kicked us on.”
KiwiBank Chasing The Fox
Royal Auckland and Grange Golf Club. Friday, December 11.
Confirmed teams
Ryan Fox and Daniel Hillier
Team Black Caps
Team She Loves Golf
Team Creators
Team Legends
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.