PGA Tour star gives update from hospital bed after Players Championship withdrawal

Ryan Fox hopes to be ‘back at it soon’ after having to withdraw from this week’s Players Championship due to kidney stones.

Fox famously hit a hole-in-one on TPC Sawgrass’ iconic 17th hole in the 2024 Players and he had been hoping for another exciting week.

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But the New Zealand golf star was struck down just days before teeing it up again at the Stadium Course.

Fox’s withdrawal from the $25million Flagship event was announced shortly before Thursday’s first round with the PGA Tour saying he was out due to ‘illness’.

That was soon confirmed to be kidney stones and Fox then posted a picture from his hospital bed on Thursday evening confirming he needed surgery on the ailment.

He said: “Not exactly the week I had planned here at The Players.

“Unfortunately some kidney stones took me down on Tuesday night and then had to be dealt with surgically this afternoon. 

“Devastated to miss out on such an amazing event, hoping to have a quick recovery and be back at it soon.”

Fox is the last man to record an ace on Sawgrass’ world famous island par 3 17th.

It came in the opening round of the 2024 event as he clipped a wedge just past the hole before spinning it back down the hill and into the cup.

It also claimed a piece of Players history for the Kiwi as he became the first to go eagle-eagle on the 16th and 17th at Sawgrass.

Just before his hole-in-one, Fox had eagled the preceding par 5 after hitting his approach shot to 2 feet.

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“I mean, it’s such an iconic hole, and it’s an intimidating shot,” Fox said at the time. “I don’t care who you are. 

“You get up there, most of the crowd probably either wants you to make a 1 or hit it in the water, so I’m glad to be on the right side of it in that respect.

“When we got to the tee, it was kind of a good number for me. It was a nice gap wedge and you know you’ve got a little bit of a backstop there, and I was pretty chuffed to look up and see it going down the flag.

“And obviously a little bit of luck for it to come down the slope and go back in, but I’m certainly not complaining.”

Fox has had a decent season so far on the PGA Tour and will hope he can recover quickly from his kidney stone surgery.

In his four starts in America this year, he has claimed T7 at the Genesis and finished T24 at each of the Phoenix Open, Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Arnold Palmer Invitational.

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Fox has qualified for the 2026 Masters at Augusta National thanks to his brilliant play-off win over Sam Burns at the RBC Canadian Open last summer.

The first major of the year begins on Thursday, April 9.

Fox has had two appearances at Augusta, finishing T26 and T38 respectively, but did not qualify for the tournament last year.

Back at Sawgrass, there is a five-way tie for the lead after the opening day’s action with Europe’s Ryder Cup star Sepp Straka among the early pace-setters.

Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood, Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland and Xander Schauffele have also started well.

Collin Morikawa was also forced to pull out of the event after just one hole on Thursday due to a back injury.