Hard call to say which Fox greater star
The Fox ...
Ohhhhh, Foxy.
Foxy, Foxy, Foxy.
We knew Ryan Fox was good. We knew he could beat anyone on his day. We knew he had all sorts of Kiwi muscle and composure and class and brilliance.
But winning two PGA Tour titles in the space of a month is pretty special.
So was the way he claimed his most recent victory at the Canadian Open, when he showed unbelievable mental strength to triumph on the fourth playoff hole.
That 3-wood he played with his second shot on that final hole was some kind of thrilling.
Golf is a difficult sport. Golf can be a cruel sport. But golf can also deliver the best type of drama, and can reveal the deepest levels of character.
Our boy Foxy is up to No 32 in the world and remains box-office gold.
The annual Otago Daily Times sport power rankings are out in a few weeks and you can be sure the big man will be rising up the list. ... and the old man
There is, of course, one extremely important question left to address in the wake of our star golfer's victory in Canada.
Who is the supreme sportsman in the Fox family?
Is it the son, the brawny, big-hitting, magnificent golfer who is on a winning tear?
Or is it the father, who was the much smaller (but hardly tiny for his time) rugby player and super boot?
This is a tough one.
Ryan is the flavour of the month, for sure. He is shining in a (relatively) global sport, mixing it up each week with genuine superstars. And he's just darn cool.
Grant, to be fair, was a heck of an All Black, who might have been ranked our greatest first five before that chap Carter and that lad Barrett came along. He also won a Rugby World Cup.
Hmm. Tough one. But I wonder if Ryan needs to win a couple more professional tournaments before he slips into top spot. A major would catapult him into the distance. Vale, Stu
Speaking of rankings, where would you have the late Stu Wilson on the list of All Blacks wingers?
Wilson, who died on Sunday, was a huge crowd favourite and a marvellous attacking player. The great David Campese told Planet Rugby his All Blacks rival was the "benchmark in world wing play" and had "a swerve to beat anyone, extreme pace, intellect and power, making him a try-scoring machine".
Any greatest All Blacks XV has to start with Jonah Lomu on the left wing.
But there is no unanimous choice for the other wing.
Wilson, who played 34 tests and 85 All Blacks matches in total, is in or near the conversation with the likes of John Kirwan, Bryan Williams, Jeff Wilson, Will Jordan, Doug Howlett, Julian Savea, Joe Rokocoko and Ron Jarden. Honours and Hall
Hat tip to one of the opposition, Stuff and former ODT sports reporter Tony Smith, for a thought-provoking column following the annual King's Birthday Honours.
Smith wrote of his desire to see honours spread a bit more widely among the sports following another year in which rugby, cricket and Olympic codes featured prominently.
They have always been a bit weird anyway, these honours. For every genuine community stalwart honoured, there is a millionaire rewarded for being wealthy, or a sportsperson rewarded for playing sport.
And, as Smith highlighted, why do All Blacks and Silver Ferns coaches get knighthoods/damehoods for winning world cups but coaches in other sports do not?
I am still probably more interested in the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.
There were no inductions this year, and it remains scandalous that some sports have a swag of inductees while two football greats, Ryan Nelsen and the 1982 All Whites, remain in the cold. Level playing field?
These facts are all you really need to know about the World Test Championship and why the supposed pinnacle of long-form cricket is kinda weird.
South African qualified for the final without having to play Australia or England.
Australia are scheduled to play 22 tests and England 21 in the 2025-27 cycle. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will play only 12. Semi stuff-up
Super Rugby Pacific got a lot right this year.
But this is one thing they got badly wrong.
The Chiefs should not be hosting a semifinal tonight. They lost their qualifying final, the Brumbies won theirs, yet the Chiefs get home advantage. Eh?
It should have been the Crusaders-Chiefs last night, and the Brumbies-Blues tonight.
The Chiefs got a reward — a life — for being the top qualifiers. They did not need to get home advantage for a semifinal as well. Birthday of the week
Steffi Graf is 56 today.
The German tennis star was so great to watch. And it is hard to see anyone matching her "Golden Slam", when she won all four grand slam singles titles and Olympic gold in 1988.
Graf and fellow tennis great Andre Agassi had two kids, Jaden and Jaz. Google tells me Jaden played baseball at college, and Jaz is a dancer and horse rider.
hayden.meikle@odt.co.nz
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