Kiwi Ryan Fox has his sights set on the top rung of the European Tour rankings, after leading through the opening round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City.
The South African tournament is the penultimate event of this year's tour schedule, and victory would propel Fox past four-time Major champion and world No.1 Rory McIlroy to the top spot.
He opened the South African event with an eight-under 64 to edge European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald by a stroke, finishing his round with back-to-back birdies at the Gary Player Country Club.
"I couldn’t have wished for a better start," he said. "I figure, if you can get to double digits under par around here, for the most part, you’re going to be pretty close come Sunday.
"To be most of the way there after the first round is pretty nice."
Fox, 35, carded three consecutive birdies on the ninth, 10th and 11th holes, then another on the 13th to gain a share of the lead, before an eagle on the par-five 14th for the outright lead.
"The 14th is probably the toughest tee-shot," he said. "I just teed it down, hit a little fade.
"I had a good number to the front of the green with a seven iron, adjusted, as we had 180 metres downwind and I can usually get seven iron there.
"I just thought, 'If I smash seven and get to the front, great', and I got a little further than that.
"Standing on that tee, you would probably take five for the most part and to make three certainly helps."
Ranked 26th in the world, Fox already has two victories this year, including the prestigious Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews last month, and would have another shot at McIlroy at the DP World Tour Championship at Dubai later this month.
