Kiwi golfer Ryan Fox has made an impressive start to his bid to win a first Major at the PGA Championship in New York.
Fox fired a two-under 68 in the first round at the Oak Hill course to sit just two shots behind leader Bryson DeChambeau.
The world No.41 was tied for the lead, until a bogey on the 17th hole dropped him behind world No.2 Scottie Scheffler, Canadian Corey Connors and Austria's Sepp Straka.
The Aucklander is currently in a fourway tie for fifth place, alongside rising Norwegian Viktor Hovland, American Hayden Buckley and German Thomas Pieters.
Illness and a return home for the birth of his second child meant Fox has spent more than a month away from a course.
He was diagnosed with pneumonia, which forced him to withdraw from April's RBC Heritage, but the 36-year-old showed no signs of rust, with birdies on two of the first four holes, before bogeying the fifth.
After pars on the next three holes, Fox rounded out the front nine with a birdie to claim the early overall lead at the year's second Major.
Pars on the following three holes led to his fourth birdie of the day at the 14th and he almost had an eagle on the 16th, with his approach shot agonisingly grazing the rim of the hole.
Even Fox himself confesses he's "surprised" by his performance, given his limited preparation, crediting his prowess on the greens for his success.
"I didn't have a whole lot of prep coming in and had four weeks off in the lead-up to this with a few things going," he said. "For the most part, I played pretty solid.
"There were some pretty scruffy iron shots in there and my short game saved me. I rode a pretty hot putter today, which was nice."
Second daughter Margot was born two weeks ago, just days after Fox recovered from his bout of pneumonia. Flooding in Auckland then compounded his hectic build-up to the tournament, preventing him from some overdue practice.
Ultimately, Fox admits the time off had a clear silver lining, after a packed schedule to start 2023, which included 26th at the prestigious US Masters at Augusta in early April.
"I had a few sleepless nights and not a lot of practice, and one of the days I was supposed to go to practice, Auckland flooded for the third time.
"I drove around Auckland 27km in four hours of chaos, so it wasn't quite the ideal preparation for a Major, but I need a break, after a busy start to the year and being mentally frazzled."
Compatriot Steven Alker's round was at the opposite end of the spectrum, with his 10-over 80 likely to see him cut at the halfway stage.
Many of the world's top-ranked golfers struggled through their opening rounds. Rory McIlory and Colin Morikawa finished one-over to share a tie for 45th, while world No.1 Jon Rahm and Matt Fitzpatrick slumped to six-over to share 122nd place.
The start of play was delayed by almost two hours, due to frost on the course, meaning some of the field may need to finish their opening rounds on Saturday (NZ time).
