FILE PHOTO: Golf - European Tour - British Masters - The Belfry, Sutton Coldfield, Britain - May 6, 2022 New Zealand's Ryan Fox in action during the second round Action Images via Reuters/Paul Childs
(Reuters) - New Zealander Ryan Fox has won the Seve Ballesteros Award after being voted the 2022 Player of the Year by his fellow professionals on the DP World Tour, organisers said on Friday.
Fox, who won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and Ras Al Khaimah Classic in 2022, beat world number one Rory McIlroy and U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick to the award, claiming 50% of the votes cast by DP World Tour members.
The 36-year-old is the first golfer from New Zealand to win the award since Michael Campbell in 2005.
"It's not something that I expected ever in my career. I would like to say it's something I dreamed of, but you look at those names on the trophy and I don't count myself as one of those," said Fox, who was second in the 2022 DP World Tour rankings behind McIlroy.
"Last year I thought I had a chance but a few other guys played pretty well, Rory, Matt, Jon Rahm, especially at the end of the year... To have your peers vote for you makes it that extra bit special."
The Player of the Year award is named after the late five-times major champion Ballesteros of Spain.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Nashik, India; Editing by Toby Davis)
