Ryan Fox took dwelling the Claret Jug after draining a birdie putt on the 18th gap to win the 2026 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale on Sunday.
The 39-year-old Fox beat out American Cameron Young to win his first career major title, turning into solely the third New Zealander to win a males’s major golf championship.
Fox got here into the ultimate gap tied with Young, after the 29-year-old completed the spherical at 6-under 64 a couple of hours earlier than.
The Kiwi powered his drive into the center of the golf green after which arrange the largest putt of his golf career up to now with an strategy shot that landed about 12 toes from the pin.
As the putt fell into the outlet, the group in Southport, England, gave Fox a rousing ovation as he raised each arms within the air to rejoice the achievement.
The putt capped off 4 birdies within the final six holes for Fox.
Fox was at a loss for phrases whereas talking to the NBC Sports broadcast after the win.
“I don’t really know what to think at the moment. I’ve got a lot of people to thank. First of all, my family. My wife and kids are in Florida at the moment. I spoke to my kids last night and they said, bring back a trophy. I think that’s a pretty cool one to bring back for them,” Fox stated.
“My family back in New Zealand and all my supporters back there. I know it’s been a long night for them, but I’m glad it was worthwhile.”
Fox completed with a 2-under 68 after trailing Sam Burns, who held a two-stroke lead coming into Sunday’s closing spherical.
Fox additionally turns into the third-oldest major winner within the final 10 years, trailing solely Phil Mickelson at the 2021 PGA Championship and Tiger Woods at the 2019 Masters.
“Just an unbelievable week. The golf course was fantastic. The English weather was fantastic. You guys out there were fantastic. The support was amazing. This is pretty cool. I’m sorry if I’ve forgotten anyone, but thank you very much,” Fox added.
It is one other disappointment for Young, who continues to be in search of his first career major title regardless of successful The Players earlier this 12 months. Young completed one shot again of the win at the 2022 Open Championship at St. Andrews and held the lead heading into the ultimate spherical at the Masters again in April.
It can be one other let down for Burns, one other golfer in search of his maiden major win.
The Louisiana State University alum got here into the spherical forward by two strokes however rapidly misplaced it and went birdie-free for the ultimate 12 holes.
“(Fox) is a well-earned champion and hats off to him,” Burns stated. “He did what he needed to do down the stretch and ultimately just came up a couple short today.”
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler stayed inside putting vary all through the spherical, however wound up with a 3-under 67 on Sunday to complete tied for fourth with Tommy Fleetwood.
After a drama-filled tournament, Bryson DeChambeau completed tied for 14th whereas Rory McIlroy, who has been essential of the LIV Golfer all event lengthy, ended tied for fortieth.
Fox’s street to his first career major title wasn’t the simplest. It got here with many bumps and U-turns.
While talking to NCS’s Don Riddell forward of the Desert Classic in Dubai in early 2025, Fox opened up about his psychological well being points, together with being an older rookie after spending years on the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour of Australia.
“I think being a rookie at 37 years old on the PGA Tour was, I probably wasn’t quite prepared for what that was again,” Fox informed NCS.
“I knew all the golf courses, knew how to travel work, knew where to stay, and everything was new on the PGA Tour, and that was probably a shock to the system more than anything.”
Fox comes from a lineage of athletes inside his household tree, together with his father, Grant Fox, who was a essential kicker for the New Zealand nationwide rugby group and his grandfather, Merv Wallace, a former New Zealand cricketer who later coached the nationwide group.
Fox spoke out on the “pressure” a golfer faces, mentioning the 2024 demise of former PGA Tour golfer Grayson Murray, whose mother and father later confirmed it was demise by suicide.
“It can be a stressful life. It’s all performance-based. There’s a lot of pressure on – Looking after your mental health is really, really important, and having people to talk to and all of that is part of that,” Fox stated.
“It’s a shame it got to that point with Grayson that, you know, we’ve had to have those, those pretty tough conversations now, but it will help – hopefully it helps someone else in a similar situation going forward because we certainly don’t want to see it again.”
NCS’s Kyle Tatelbaum and Don Riddell contributed to this reporting
This write has been up to date with further reporting