New Zealander Ryan Fox has enjoyed a hugely successful career since turning pro in 2012, with 17 wins on a variety of circuits, including four on the DP World Tour.
However, he has really come into his own since the beginning of 2022, shortly after enlisting the services of caddie Dean Smith.
Smith took on the role after Fox parted ways with Northern Irishman Chris Selfridge. The South African had plenty of experience by that point, too, having caddied for several players, including Oliver Wilson, An Byeong-hun, Shubhankar Sharma and Gavin Green, over the previous decade.
It didn’t take long for the partnership to flourish, either. Smith was at Fox’s side when he claimed his first DP World Tour win for three years at the 2022 Ras Al Khaimah Classic, and less than 10 months later, he had another title on the Tour at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
The partnership was just getting started, though, and Fox claimed his most impressive career victory to date when he won the DP World Tour’s flagship tournament, the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in 2023.
It was after that win by one shot over Tyrrell Hatton and Aaron Rai that we were given a rare glimpse into what makes the partnership tick. During the trophy presentation, cameras captured a touching moment between the two, when Fox whispered in Smith’s ear: “We get to go back to Augusta next year.”
His trusty bagman had the perfect response in just four words, smiling and saying: “Go and win it.”
"We're going back to Augusta."@ryanfoxgolfer 😅#BMWPGA | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/lE7JZyuN4eSeptember 18, 2023
Given how successful the partnership has been, it would be hard to put it past him. That win also helped Fox finish fifth in the DP World Tour Rankings, which was enough to earn him a PGA Tour card for the 2024 season.
The pair have clearly injected some fun into their working relationship, too. Fox, his South African coach Jamie Gough and Smith had a bet on the outcome the 2023 Rugby World Cup final between Fox’s home nation New Zealand and Smith’s South Africa.
Had the All Blacks won the title, Smith would have needed to use a yardage book with an All Blacks cover for the rest of the year. Unfortunately for Fox, though, the Springboks lifted the trophy, leaving him with the penalty of playing three holes of November’s Nedbank Golf Challenge pro-am wearing a South African rugby jersey.
A bet's a bet 🤝@ryanfoxgolfer loses a bet to his caddy meaning he had to play today's Pro-Am in a @Springboks shirt 🇿🇦#NGC2023 https://t.co/bCjxdyyou3 pic.twitter.com/OSoOh3KLTiNovember 8, 2023
Perhaps one reason the pair have struck up such a bond is that the current spell is not the first time they have worked together. After Smith helped An Byeong-hun to victory at the 2015 BMW PGA Championship, Fox turned to him for a period, and said of him during the Australian Open in 2016: "He's been on the bag for the past year and we work really well together.
"It's his first time down here and he won with An Byeong-hun around Wentworth last year so he's lot some experience in the lead and I'm sure that'll help over the weekend."
In the end, Fox had to settle for a T4, but clearly that spell working together stuck with him, and the results since they reunited speak for themselves.
