That was where he stayed until the sixth hole, where he drained an 8m (27ft) putt for birdie to move back to one-under.
Putting his ball into the native area and having to take a drop on the par-four 11th saw him move back to even par, before a sandy adventure on the par-four 14th ended in a double bogey.
In that instance, Fox teed into one of four bunkers off to the left side of the fairway, and hit into another further up with his second shot, taking two shots to get out of that one.
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But he was able to finish as he started, ultimately dropping shots on just three holes, while cancelling some of the damage with two birdies to finish at a respectable two-over.
Some of the other big names in the field weren’t quite so well off after the opening day of the tournament, with Shane Lowry carding a nine-over, Justin Rose a seven-over, while Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama and Tommy Fleetwood were among a long list of players to finish four-over for the day.
Fox will have little time to mull the round over, as he is among the first to the tee boxes for the start of the second round.
Finishing his first 18 around 10:05am NZT (6.07pm local), he’ll be back in action at 10:56pm tonight (6.56am local).
Discover moreRyan Fox’s round-one scorecard
1 (par 4): Par.
2 (par 4): Birdie.
3 (par 4): Bogey.
4 (par 5): Par.
5 (par 4): Par.
6 (par 3): Birdie.
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7 (par 4): Par.
8 (par 3): Par.
9 (par 4): Par.
10 (par 4): Par.
11 (par 4): Bogey.
12 (par 5): Par.
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13 (par 3): Par.
14 (par 4): Double bogey.
15 (par 4): Par.
16 (par 3): Par.
17 (par 4): Par.
18 (par 4): Par.
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Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
