By Special Correspondent
Ryan Fox carded the best round of his DP World Tour career to storm into the lead at the Ras Al Khaimah Classic, a nine-under 63 earning him a two-stroke lead in the Tour’s second successive event at Al Hamra Golf Club.

The New Zealander struggled with a back injury in last week’s Ras Al Khaimah Championship presented by Phoenix Capital, but a combination of physio work and a putting tip from a fellow player helped him to turn things around this week.

Ten birdies and a bogey saw him soar to the summit with a 63 – a score he has once before carded at the 2018 Scottish Open, but on a par 70 course – and earned the 35-year-old the first round lead for just the third time in his DP World Tour career.

“I really enjoyed it, it’s the first time I’ve shot nine-under out here on this Tour,” said Fox. “I’ve shot some pretty low scores at home but struggled to bring that out here at times. It was nice to get in the zone, I just felt like I had control of the golf ball.

“I probably need to throw a couple of thanks out too, I struggled last week here with my back and I have my physio out here, and the Tour physio has helped me out over the weekend and I feel 100% this week which was nice.

“Shaun Norris was nice enough to give me a putting tip on Tuesday when we played a practice round together and that seemed to work pretty well too so big shout-out to those guys. It wasn’t too complicated, he just said I need to get a bit closer to the ball, he said I was hitting it out of the toe a little bit and trying to push it out there so he said get a bit closer and it worked in the practice round, and obviously worked pretty well today as well.”

Portugal’s Ricardo Gouveia, who graduated through the Challenge Tour for a second time last year, sits in outright second place after a seven-under 65, while nine players share third place on six under, including Scot Robert MacIntyre and in-form Englishman Richard Bland.

“I am very happy, it was a great round, I played solid,” said Gouveia. “I put the ball in play which was what didn’t happen last week, so if you do that you can create a lot of chances and I holed a lot of putts which helped.