Ryan Fox says he has a ‘definite’ worry about golf in the future and he’s becoming frustrated by what’s being said

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Ryan Fox should be full of confidence ahead of the BMW PGA Championship after winning the event last year.

Fox is currently plying his trade on the DP World Tour after concluding his first full PGA Tour season following his recent rookie status.

He is, however, not in his best form going into Wentworth this week, with cuts missed at the Wyndham Championship and at last week’s Irish Open.

But the New Zealander does boast three top-10 finishes for the PGA Tour season, with 13 of 20 cuts made.

Fox fended off challenges from the likes of Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton at the 2023 BMW PGA Championship, with that duo having since turned to LIV Golf.

Ryan Fox worried about the future of golf amid stand-off

The New Zealand man has now weighed in on the ongoing debate regarding the breakaway tour, having been asked if the value of quality venues such as those on the DP World Tour are being drowned out by the obsession with the prize money available in the PGA Tour and LIV.

“Yeah, a little bit,” Fox said in his BMW PGA Championship press conference. “Obviously the PGA Tour definitely jumped on the bandwagon there. LIV started it all. I feel like we’ve done a really good job on the DP World Tour of making it more about the event, the golf course, where it’s at.

“Obviously Royal County Down last week, we’re in London this week at Wentworth, an iconic golf course. We’ve got the Spanish Open in Madrid, you’ve got the French Open in Paris.

“Even though some of the prize money is not the same as the Signature Events, still, the events have managed to keep their identity being National Opens or something like that at iconic cities and at really good golf courses.

“It’s definitely a worry going forward. I think the narrative in golf lately about being so money driven is probably a little bit frustrating. I don’t think the players necessarily think about it as much as what it’s in the media or what the public sees. You know, we still want to play and compete. We want to play on good golf courses. We want to contend for tournaments.

“But yeah, golf is certainly going that way a little bit lately and hopefully all that talk around the money kind of dies down going forward. Look, as a player, it’s been great in that sense. The rewards are definitely a little bit better.

“But you know, if you go through your run of the field this week, would you rather make a hundred grand or have the trophy and then make nothing at the end of the week? I’m pretty sure everyone would say I want my name on the trophy and I’ll take not getting paid. I think that’s generally what most of us still play for.”

What can PGA Tour, LIV Golf and DP World Tour players do about the mess?

The tension between the likes of the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and the DP World Tour doesn’t seem like going away anytime soon.

LIV still has $13million in fines to settle with the DP World Tour, with Rahm and Hatton having lodged appeals regarding those fines.

It certainly isn’t a good look for the game of golf, with Fox clearly worried about what the future holds if an agreement cannot be reached.

All he and indeed most others can do, however, is continue to play and do the best they can in order to improve their stands, and of course their earnings.

Fox will now be looking to do exactly that at Wentworth, but defending his BMW PGA Championship seems a very tall order.