Golf: Crowe on player’s mind

Golf will not be the only thing on Ryan Fox's mind tomorrow.

It will also be 1000km away in Auckland, where the funeral of New Zealand cricket great Martin Crowe will take place.

The Fox and Crowe families have been good friends for years, after former All Black Grant Fox, Ryan's father, and Crowe became good friends attending Auckland Grammar together.

Crowe, New Zealand's best batsman, lost his two-year-long battle with cancer last week.

‘‘I've known Marty pretty much my whole life,'' Fox said yesterday.

‘‘I played a lot of golf with Martin. He was a really keen golfer. I used to play quite a bit with him and Dad before he got sick.

‘‘I think I've seen Martin hit the best putter I've ever seen. When he got angry, he dropped the ball on the back of a green and took a full swipe at it with a putter and hit a 150-yard, 2m draw over a set of trees, which was pretty impressive.

‘‘I'll never forget those memories.''

Fox said Crowe was a fan and a supporter.

The former Black Cap captain watched Fox play at tournaments when he could, including last year's New Zealand PGA Championship in Remuera.

Crowe, who has dished out batting advice to many of the country's best players, even gave Fox some batting tips when he was young.

‘‘I had a bit to do with him when I played cricket through school. I got a bit of batting coaching from him,'' he said.

‘‘It helped my technique, but my mental side of batting wasn't great at that point.''

Grant will watch his son's first round today, before flying home this evening to attend the funeral tomorrow.

He will then return to Arrowtown on Saturday morning.

‘‘Marty loved his golf, too, and took great interest in Ryan, which brought me a lot of pleasure,'' Fox said.

‘‘He came to Coolum one year for the Aussie PGA Championships and wandered around and, last year, strangely enough at Remuera [NZ PGA Championship], he was walking around following Ryan. This time he couldn't do it because he wasn't here, sadly.

‘‘But I'm thinking of him and I know Ryan is, too.''

Add a Comment