Loran - Smith

Loran

When a new face becomes prominent in the sports world, media criers become fascinated by the “inside” story and hunt for the hidden gems of his or her life and career.

Ryan Fox, now New Zealand’s favorite son, is a regular guy who flies coach, dresses like he shops at Goodwill, and drinks a lot of beer. And when he is not making birdies on the golf course, his next most favorite thing to do is hop aboard a boat and cast for snapper and king fish with the same commitment that he has with a golf club in his hands.

He holds an annual charity outing at Waihi Beach, which is 96 miles east of Auckland on the North Island. It lasts for three days, and Ryan is as serious about fishing as he is golf.

If you know his background, as does Athens’s Kiwi expat Warren Goodstone, you understand why he has been a late bloomer in the golf world. His father, Grant, is one of the best rugby players in history of the sport, scoring over a thousand points for the New Zealand All Blacks. He was a member of the team that won the inaugural Rugby World Cup.

It was a “like father, like son” scenario in the beginning of Ryan’s career. He, too, was keen on rugby. While he was successful, his career never reached the level of his famous father who is now a television commentator.

With Ryan’s Open win last week at Royal Birkdale, Southport, England, the sobriquets are now reversed. For the longest while, Ryan was known as Grant Fox’s son—now Grant Fox will be labeled as Ryan Fox’s dad.

Goodstone, who married Whitney Winburn, an Athens native, returns home as often as possible and is very familiar with Ryan Fox’s charity golf and fishing outing, since he and his family frequented Waihi Beach when the new Open champion was growing up. “My cousin, Grant Hooker,” Goodstone says, “has a beach house at Waihi Beach and is a member of the volunteer coastguard, one of the sponsors of Fox’s annual tournament, and spends a lot of time with Ryan.

“Ryan is known for being down to earth and unpretentious, having boyish fun, while raising money for charity. He is the antithesis of his father who was a very slow and deliberate rugby icon, while Ryan hits the ball and bolts down the fairway as if he is running late for supper.”

Warren notes that New Zealand has more Open champions per capita than any place in the world: Bob Charles won the British title in 1963 at Royal Lytham and St. Annes, Michael Campbell won the U.S. Open in 2005, and Lydia Ko won the Women’s British Open in 2024. (Charles, winner of the inaugural Atlanta Classic in 1967, is living today in Christchurch, New Zealand, and at age 90, still playing golf.)

Golf is very important in New Zealand. There are nearly 400 courses for a population of 5 million people. Likely, it will become much more popular for continued from page

Kiwis with Ryan Fox showing off the Claret Jug in his native country for a year, before returning it when the championship is played next year at St. Andrews, the home of golf.

With an opportunity to visit New Zealand years ago, I was fascinated by the Kiwi culture and the natives’ great love of the outdoors. While I did not play golf, I visited golf courses in Auckland, Christchurch, and Queenstown.

I once had a fishing outing while spending a long weekend in Queenstown, a popular tourist destination, that is among the most memorable vignettes in a lifetime of travel.

With friends, we were able to book a guide and a charter boat and went out on the lake on a windy day, which was not the best for fishing. However, we were able to catch three nicesized trout.

A friend at the hotel where we were staying, aware of our plans, provided a most valuable tip. He said that if we caught fish, we could arrange for the hotel to cook them for us. The front desk personnel introduced us to the chef who confirmed that would be possible.

The chef prepared our lunch on a warm, sunny, beautiful afternoon, the best meal of the three-week trip to Australia and New Zealand. New Zealanders are “real” people.

With that in mind, it should not come as a surprise that the latest Open champion is a guy who booked a coach ticket, ordered a beer from the flight attendant, and placed the claret jug in an overhead bin.

My guess is that he will extend some benevolence in his community with the five and a half million New Zealand dollars he got for winning golf’s oldest championship.