Ryan Fox birdied the 72nd hole with the minimum of fuss to win the 154th Open Championship by one shot over Cameron Young at Royal Birkdale.
If ever there is a way to hole a putt for the biggest moment of your life it’s how Fox did it. Sam Burns had barely put his cap back on before Fox just stepped up and pulled the trigger from 12-feet to become the first major winner from New Zealand since Michael Campbell in 2005 and just the third in history. He equals Bob Charles’ Open win of 1963.
Fox’s round of 68 was enough to overhaul the two shot gap to Burns at the start of the day as he ended the week top of the tree on ten-under as he birdied two of his last three holes and four of his last six in a courageous back nine display.
The Kiwi had never had a top-10 finish in a major before this week. Both of his PGA Tour victories came via playoffs but he avoided the three extra holes with just the fourth birdie on the 18th on Sunday which was playing as the toughest hole.
Fox started well with a birdie on the 2nd and as the wind whipped up and Birkdale showed its teeth, he looked steady with some crucial par putts on the front nine. He even holed from seven feet for a good bogey on the 9th to turn level-par on his round. Things got ropey for him when he bogeyed the 11th and found the bunker on the par-3 12th but he showed resilience to get up and down as he regained his composure.
At seven-under he was two shots shy of Young who vaulted through the field to get to nine-under with a 64 early in the afternoon. But he put his head down and showed major championship winning pedigree. With none of the final nine groups under par for their rounds at that time, Fox emerged from the pack as he hunted down the Claret Jug.
Fox, is the son of Grant Fox, a legendary former New Zealand rugby union player. A star fly-half for the All Blacks. But it was time Ryan wrote his own story. Birdies on 13 and 14 put the cat amongst the pigeons as he tied Young. After a bogey on the par-3 15th he responded with aplomb rolling in a ten-foot birdie to draw level again with Young and leave him needing to play the final two holes in one-under.
It looked as if that birdie would come on the par-5 17th when he stood over a ten-footer but the conversion skewed right of the post, leaving him the unenviable challenge of taming the ghastly 18th hole which had cost Young a now fatal bogey hours earlier.
Fox is one of the quicker and more laid back players in professional golf and how he played the 72nd under the height of pressure reflected his personality. Bang. 330 yards down the middle. 172 yards to eleven feet. He took one look at the putt, stepped up and it dropped in at the perfect place.
Fox elated, his caddie on his knees with his head in his hands.
Players champion Young will have to wait another year after his electric run came up one shot shy while 54-hole leader Burns will go away having let another Sunday chance slip by.
Scottie Scheffler’s late challenge came up just short as he was forced to steel or a share of fourth place on seven-under after a 67. He was joined by Tommy Fleetwood who faltered around the turn. Having begun the day five off the pace the local hero got to within one of the lead at eight-under before three bogeys in a row on the 9th, 10th and 11th ended his chances.
The challenges of Lucas Herbert and Si Woo Kim faded on the back nine with Kim leading for five holes on ten-under before he covered his last eight holes in four over to take sixth on six-under.
It wasn’t the day Shane Lowry had hoped for despite a highlight eagle on the 17th as he settled for a 72 and a two-under total. He remains without a top-20 since April while Rory McIlroy finished a shot further back after a 71.
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