With one event left in 2021, Kiwi golfer Ryan Fox hopes to finish an up-and-down year on a high.
Fox, 34, will compete in his final event of the year at the Mallorca Golf Open in Spain this week.
He enters the tournament off his best result of the season, finishing fourth at the Andalucia Masters, four shots off the leader, after a frustrating year on the PGA's European tour.
From his 18 events, Fox has made 14 cuts, but finished in the top 10 just twice, with last week's result following sixth place at the Dubai Desert Classic in January.
He has finished in the top 20 a further five times, as well as the top 30 on two more occasions. Asked to assess his own performances, Fox knows he still has more to give in the hunt for consistency.
"It's been close," he tells Newshub. "If I was to give it a grade, I'd say it's a B or B-.
"I feel like every week, I've done a lot of things really well, but there's been something that's held me back. I've made a lot of cuts, which is positive.
"I've had a lot of top-30 finishes and only ever really been a couple of shots out of being in the top 10, so it's been close.
"Last week was probably the first week where I felt like I'd done everything well and that's what you need to do out here to compete. There's a lot of good players at the top level of golf now.
"To compete week in, week out, you can't have a weakness. I feel like I haven't had one weakness all year, but I've just had weeks where certain parts of the game haven't worked and it just seems to change every week.
"I'm happy to have found a little bit of consistency later in the season."
Fox will have the chance to remedy that this week, when he competes at Mallorca.
With his final tournament of the year staged at the Spanish tourist Mecca, at the very least, Fox appreciates his surroundings for the coming week.
"It's a nice place to be. I'm currently in an apartment overlooking the water and it feels like a little bit of a holiday, to be honest.
"I'm playing the pro-am on Wednesday - that'll be my only look at the golf course - and having a day off today with the family.
"It's nice to have a little bit of a break towards the end of the season and I can go in with no expectations this week.
"I know I'm playing well and [I'll] just see what happens, and that's a good place to be on the golf course."
Next week, Fox and his young family will return to New Zealand for Christmas and the summer at home, before likely rejoining the European Tour in January.
"It'll be good to get back out, I'm certainly going to enjoy being back home before Christmas - maybe not so much the MIQ spot. I didn't enjoy it by myself and I'm not sure what it's going to be like with a 10-month-old, who's just crawling around the place.
"It might be pretty tough for two weeks, but it'll be nice when we get out. Hopefully, some of those restrictions will have eased in Auckland, and we can catch up with friends and family.
"I know, at this point, I can go fishing and play golf at least under the current levels. I'll be enjoying that when I can."
