Ryan Fox wins The Open Championship for New Zealand and for the good guys

Ryan Fox has become just the second winner of The Open Championship from New Zealand after making birdie on the 18th hole at Royal Birkdale.

Fox had equalled the men’s major scoring record with a 62 on Saturday, and a round of 68 on Sunday was enough to secure his first major title on Merseyside, and to follow in Bob Charles’ footsteps from his victory in 1963 up the coast at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

Starting the final day two shots behind leader Sam Burns, the 39-year-old from Auckland made birdies on 13, 14 and 16 before fist-pumping his ball into the hole in front of the famous Birkdale clubhouse to become just the sixth champion to win from seven or more strokes behind after round one.

“It’s unbelievable, to be honest. I still don’t know what to think. My nerves are all over the place. I’m not quite sure how I hit that putt on 18. Look, it is a dream come true,” Fox said, now the owner of the Claret Jug.

“Looking at that trophy now, it’s the first time I’ve seen it up close. So it’s pretty amazing.”

Fox has strengthened the line of sporting greatness in his family. His father Grant Fox made 46 appearances for the All Blacks rugby team. Up to now, Fox had won twice on the PGA Tour and four times on the DP World Tour, including the BMW PGA at Wentworth.

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Before this week, Fox had never made a major top 10 and had just two top-20s to speak of.

It was heartache for Burns, who was one shot behind Wyndham Clark at the US Open last month, and Cameron Young, who had set the pace on nine-under-par for a few hours in the clubhouse. Both are American Ryder Cuppers, but continue to be nearly-men at the major championships.

That is now five major top-10s for Burns in his last 10 starts, and for Young, he came tied for third at this year’s Masters and came second at The Open in 2022.

It was also an emotional walk up the 18th hole for Tommy Fleetwood, who made three consecutive bogeys around the turn to fall out of contention in his home town of Southport. The Englishman also made an emotional 72nd-hole birdie to come tied for fourth.

But for Fox, he is also the lowest-ranked player in the world rankings to win The Open since Darren Clarke in 2011, and he has broken the record for lowest position on the leaderboard after the first round to go on to win – tied-85th.

Often complemented for his speedy pace of play, he is the first champion to shoot 62 and hoist the Claret Jug, and he is also the fourth champion to win having shot a round of 63 or better.

Open Championship Leaderboard

“I was really happy. I said to my caddie through six or eight holes, I feel a lot better than I thought I would feel right now. Played really solid early, and I had some brush-ups down the stretch. To play that last hole how I did, I stood on the tee and said to my caddie Dean, we’re going to try to win this.

“I hit two perfect shots. I’m not sure how I hit the putt. As I said, my hands were all over the place. I was just trying to get it towards the hole somewhere. It’s surreal that it went in.

“Champion Golfer of the Year has got a pretty good ring to it.”

“You can’t feel your hands, I know that,” he said about the winning putt. “My focus with the putter all day was just take a really deep breath before I hit it and just try to hit a line, and I did that on 18. I was shaking. I was just trying to get it up there near the hole.

“It looked pretty straight, and thankfully it dove in that left edge. Yeah, it’s crazy. I don’t really know what to think. I don’t know how I managed to keep the putter face square enough for that to go online, but I’ll take it.”

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