Ryan Fox was following his dad's advice and leaving it all out on the course as he carded an opening 67 at the US PGA Championship.
The Kiwi has very much blazed his own trail in recent years, topping the PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit in 2019 and going on to be a four-time DP World Tour winner, including a Rolex Series crown at the BMW PGA Championship.
His career took another upward turn last week as he chipped in in a play-off to win the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic and win his first title as a dual member after playing his way onto the PGA TOUR via the 2023 Race to Dubai Rankings.
There is a chance, however, that at least in his homeland he will never reach the fame of his father Grant, who played 46 Tests for the All Blacks in a country where rugby union is close to a religion.
But Fox senior has always been a staunch supporter of his son's golf and Ryan revealed after his opening four under par effort at Quail Hollow Club that one piece of his dad's advice had always stuck with him.
"I'm going to misquote him here somehow," said Fox. "But the idea of it was... hard work beats talent. If you work hard to be the best you can be, you can live with whatever happens.
"But if you don't do the work, there will always be that little thing in your head, the what if: what if I had done this differently or done this better.
"That's what dad drilled into me as a kid. I'm a little different than him in terms of how I approach things. He's very analytical. I'm not really that way.
"But you know, I certainly learnt a lot off him growing up. I think he's incredibly proud. He was incredibly proud last week with the win.
"I'm very lucky to have that kind of experience growing up. He was on my bag a lot, too. Even though it's a different sport, I gained a lot early on from that."
Hard work beats talent. If you work hard to be the best you can be, you can live with whatever happens
Fox played Quail Hollow the last time this event was held here in 2017 as he made the cut but he admits it was an appearance he did not make that may have had the most influence on his career.
The Charlotte layout hosted the Presidents Cup in 2022 but Fox was overlooked by Trevor Immelman for a Captain's Pick, going on to win the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship just weeks later.
"In hindsight, I probably felt like I was a little hard done by," he said. "But also, I wasn't playing over here at the time. I could see Trevor's point of view of wanting to pick someone that was US-based and had the experience over here.
"It's certainly motivating and I think I won the week after. So yeah, there was definitely a little bit of heat under the hood there.
"It's still a massive goal of mine. That's probably, you know, one of the few I haven't ticked off. Hopefully can carry on the form from last week for a little while and make the team next year."
