Rare feat as four Kiwi golfers tee up at British Open

There's a rare New Zealand golf phenomenon at the Royal Troon in Scotland this week.

As the Open Championship (or British Open, depending on your level of purist) begins tomorrow evening NZT, four Kiwis will tee it up in a Major Championship for what's believed to be just the seventh time in history and the first since 2009, when Michael Campbell, David Smail, Josh Geary, and Mark Brown all played in The Open at Turnberry.

This year, world number 64 Ryan Fox will lead the charge alongside Daniel Hillier, Kazuma Kobori, and Michael Hendry.

The quartet's already taking advantage of all being in the field, enjoying a practice round together at Troon.

Fox and Hendry took on Hillier and Kobori or, as Fox put it, "the old boys took on the young boys today".

And it came down to the last.

"I had a 15-footer for birdie on the 18th to win the match and I choked my guts out and ended up halving it unfortunately," Hendry told 1News in a Zoom call after the round.

Fox quickly came to his defence.

"I thought he hit a pretty good putt to be fair. We got beaten up properly on that back nine today. It's a pretty strong golf course. You feel like there are some scoring chances on the first eight holes and then it's about holding on for dear life from there. I think we made one birdie as a group in the last nine holes."

Indeed, Troon will be a test, particularly if that wind gets up. In the Kiwi practice round, the wind was often into the golfers, leading to Fox — one of the longest hitters in the game — to need everything just to reach greens.

"On the back nine I didn't hit less than a six iron into a par four into the wind. Hit a two iron into one of the par threes and there's plenty of trouble around."

The practice round's helped Hendry ease into what's set to be a huge week — the 44-year-old had to give up his spot in The Open last year after being diagnosed with leukaemia.

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club — which runs The Open — gave him an exemption to push his spot to this year's tournament.

"I know come Thursday morning when I tee off there will be a bit of emotion but hopefully I can put that to one side and have a good week," he said.

"This, like the New Zealand Open, holds more gravitas for me and the fact the R&A were so gracious and extended me the extension, even before last year's event had been played, it was a real motivator for me and got me through my recovery.

"Hopefully this can be the end of this chapter for me — I can put a line through it and get on with life as normal."

And there's an extra element to the week that's making it even more meaningful.

"This one for me is mostly special because my family is here to enjoy it with me," Hendry said.

"Having my daughter Madison with me walking the course was great. She doesn't get to travel with me very often so getting the experience of the British Open is special for her, but it's extra special for me.

"The memories we're going to share as a family this year are going to be even better."

Hendry, who is in the third group out on opening day tomorrow, will tee off at 5.57pm NZT, followed close behind by Hillier, who will be playing at 6.08pm.

Fox will play several hours later at 11.20pm NZT, followed by Kobori at 3.05am.

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