Just a couple of questions into his press conference at The Hills yesterday, Fox highlighted the fact no Kiwi has won the New Zealand Open since Dunedin's Mahal Pearce in 2003.
‘‘I thought I would get that one out early,'' he said.
Ranked 160th in the world, Fox goes into today's $1 million New Zealand Open as the favourite to win it all.
He will play the par-71 Millbrook course today, then move to The Hills tomorrow, the course he is more comfortable with.
Fox, who earned conditional status in Europe last year, is expecting the best scores of the week to be shot at The Hills, but said both courses were in good nick ahead of the four-day-long Open.
‘‘Both golf courses are there for scoring, as long as the weather plays ball for us,'' he said. ‘‘It's just [a matter of] trying to make as many birdies as possible, really.''
Neither course is overly long, which means Fox, who is known for his meaty drives, will not be able to utilise his strength as much as he would like.
‘‘I don't get the driver out as much here, so it doesn't play to my strengths as much. But I get to hit a little less club off some of the tees as what some of the other guys will, so I guess it's an advantage in that respect.
‘‘The good thing about the golf courses is anyone can win around here. There has been short-hitters win, there has been long-hitters win.''
Fox, who will tee off on the 10th hole at Millbrook at 8.30am today, has reasonable form behind him.
He finished fourth at the New Zealand PGA Championship in Auckland last week, after firing a 19-under-par 269.
Australian Brad Kennedy charged down the stretch to win it, but Fox was pleased with the way he was striking the ball.
Fox had a good hit-out at the driving range yesterday afternoon, with his father, former All Black Grant Fox, watching.
His father was also pleased with the way Ryan was hitting the ball, but said there were still a few ‘‘technical things'' to sort out.
Swede Daniel Chopra, a two-time US PGA Tour winner, is in the same playing group as Fox.
Both will partner with amateurs - Fox with Matt Hoare and Chopra with Ric Kayne - under the pro-am (best-ball) format, which will run simultaneously with the Open.
Fox is impressed with the 144-strong field, which includes a bunch of talented Japanese golfers, and just hopes a Kiwi, preferably him, has his name etched on the trophy, come Sunday afternoon.
‘‘It would be really nice,'' he said. ‘‘Mark Brown has been close a couple of times in the last couple of years. It would be nice for one of us to get over the line.
‘‘Thirteen of the top 15 Kiwis are here this week, so we've got as good a chance as any this year and hopefully one of us can get it done.''
But the Kiwi contingent will once again be up against a stack of talented Australian and Japanese golfers - Yasaku Miyazato and Yoshinori Fujimoto are ranked in the world's top 100.
Picking a winner in the New Zealand Open is also notoriously difficult, with recent winners coming out of nowhere to take it out.
That includes last year's winner, Jordan Zunic, of Australia, who claimed his first professional tournament courtesy of a birdie on the final hole.
Despite having had a ‘‘bit of a roller coaster'' season after winning in Arrowtown last year, Zunic said he was ‘‘definitely confident'' of defending his title.
He and fellow Australian Dimitrios Papadatos, the 2014 winner, are paired together and will tee off from hole 1 at the Hills at 1.30pm today.
New Zealander Josh Geary, who finished tied for the second at the New Zealand PGA Championship in Auckland last week, and Michael Hendry are other Kiwis worth keeping an eye on.
Action starts at both courses at 7.35am today.
The final two rounds this weekend will be played on The Hills.
