Ryan Fox FORCED OUT of Italian Open after barbecue mishap
DP World Tour pro Ryan Fox has been forced to withdraw from the Italian Open due a boring (!?) injury he sustained at home during the BMW PGA Championship.
DP World Tour pro Ryan Fox can count himself unlucky.
He was overlooked for the International Presidents Cup team despite simply glistening form this season that has seen him claim his second professional win at Ras al Khaimah.
Since then, he's had finishes that include a T-9 at the Catalunya Championship, T-8 at the British Masters, second at the Dutch Open, third at the BMW International Open and another close call at the Irish Open where he was the runner-up again.
Related: The International Team heading to the Presidents Cup
That spell allowed him to qualify for three majors where unfortunately the New Zealander struggled somewhat.
Last week, he played the BMW PGA Championship. He was forced to withdraw after the first round. The tournament was later won by Shane Lowry who decided to throw a dig towards the LIV players.
Sergio Garcia, citing no reason, also withdrew from the flagship event on the DP World Tour after an opening 76 then rocked up a few hours later watching college football.
He now faces a fine unless he can give a reason for his decision to quit halfway through.
Justin Rose also withdrew, citing an injury. Fox was also quick to dispel any rumours:
Unfortunately I injured my knee while at home last night and have had to pull out of the @BMWPGA this weekend. No cool story, just seemed to be very unlucky. I’m getting scans over the weekend to see the extent of the damage and hope to get some good news @DPWorldTour #foxtracker
— Ryan Fox (@ryanfoxgolfer) September 10, 2022
But now he's explained that the reason for his injury was in fact... walking into a table in his home in Surrey on his way out to the barbecue.
Talk about the most boring injury imaginable.
It led to the 35-year-old not "practically not being able to walk for the rest of the night".
He told NZME: "It didn't get much better on Saturday and I couldn't walk across the range, let alone walk 18 holes, so had to withdraw unfortunately."
The injury also means that he has been forced to withdraw from another big event this week. Rory McIlroy will be making his debut here.
"I have withdrawn [from the Italian Open] on doctor's orders after an MRI showed that I had partially torn the meniscus in my right knee."
Fox is currently ranked seventh in the Race to Dubai standings. Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, Will Zalatoris, Matt Fitzpatrick, Shane Lowry and Thomas Pieters are ahead of him with eight events left on the schedule before the $10million DP World Tour Championship.