How Ryan Fox kept his cool in a nerve-jangling finish to make history in British Open

Monday, 20 July 2026

Sporting greatness is the sap running through Ryan Fox's family tree, and in the evening at Royal Birkdale he had a 3.5m shot at third-generation glory. Befitting the son of one of the All Blacks' most renowned kickers and the grandson of a New Zealand cricket captain, he held his nerve as the Open tipped from controversy to true drama. An honest character who has sampled the duality of elite competition, he says a golfer's life can be brutal and fantastic. This was the fantastic.

It was one of the best Open finishes for years. Cameron Young was in the clubhouse at nine under after a round of 64, watching players struggle to find the birdie that would bring them level. In the last hour the challengers were whittled away until only Fox and the American Sam Burns remained.

Fox, 39, did so but had just missed a 2.7m putt on the 17th that would have given him the outright lead. Burns, who decided to come to the Open only last week after his daughter, Belle, had arrived early, needed a birdie to force a play-off. It was deliciously poised and the fans transposed the Tommy Fleetwood feelgood factor to the popular Kiwi - the world No 56.

Sporting success is often a matter of timing, and Fox ignored the bunkers lurking like demons all along the final fairway. That bravery helped his ball fly 300m and gave him a chance. His iron from 160m was on line but stalled at knee-knocking length. A birdie putt at history or perhaps lingering pain? He tried to shut out the goodwill, but it never looked like missing. A round of 68 for 10-under-par and a career high. Burns fought for third place, two strokes back, with Fleetwood and Scottie Scheffler completing the top five.

'My nerves are all over the place,' Fox said, after calling his wife and children at home in Florida. 'I hit two perfect shots. I'm not sure how I hit the putt. It's surreal. To have my name in the history of the game is awesome, and it's pretty awesome for New Zealand as well. It's going to be big down there.'

As this fleet Fox wasted no time with those final strokes, Young was hitting drivers on the range nearby, monitoring the cheers, hoping for a groan or at least a play-off. Ultimately, he was left to regret his final hellish hole a couple of hours earlier.

Despite a superb round on a day when scoring was tough, the American world No 4 found a fairway bunker and his escape attempt slammed into the revetted face and squirmed into the rough. From there he found another bunker and the vast galleries wondered if they were watching an implosion or the Champion Golfer. He held his club behind his neck in a sign of self-recrimination at the bogey and said he expected someone to catch him soon. The only thing he got wrong was that it took so long.

Fox has had some big wins in Europe and the United States, including the BMW PGA Championship in 2023 and last year's Canadian Open, but he had never had a top-15 finish at a major.

On the 14th hole he drew level with Young, but his tee shot on the following par three found a cruel lie in the bunker, meaning he had to play out backwards, which is mentally bruising when you are seeking the final step forward to your best day.

Fox then showed the sort of grit one might expect given his father is Grant Fox, an All Blacks legend, and his grandfather was Merv Wallace, a Test cricketer. From the rough on the 16th he played a glorious 135m approach to 3m. That birdie was greeted with a euphoric roar. A Kiwi, perhaps, but he had been appropriated as a crowd favourite.

Fox once recalled his own schoolyard rugby days by saying: 'The number of times I heard, 'Let's smash Foxy's kid', was ridiculous.' It was tough in 2023 too when he said he was 'sick of golf', contracted pneumonia and both in-laws were diagnosed with cancer while he lived out of a suitcase. He has made it through the mill to the mountain top.

'We've got a great history in our family,' he said after his triumph. 'But the other great thing is I had no pressure on me to follow in any of their footsteps. I was lucky enough to carve my own path. I don't know if this tops their achievements, but it's certainly right up there.'

For long periods, Birkdale bounded to the rhythms of Fleetwood's round. The Tommy Roar was a more raucous explosion than the throaty approval afforded less local men. Thousands sucked the ball towards the opening hole from 12m and when it disappeared, Fleetwood looked momentarily disbelieving. How often had he thought about challenging on an Open Sunday, he had been asked beforehand. 'Most days since I was seven,' he said. 'That's what life's about, right? You daydream and dream about the biggest things possible.'

It was nice to walk with the daydream believers after the protracted rules row that led to Bryson DeChambeau being docked two shots and Rory McIlroy accusing him of holding the Open hostage. Golf can be bitter, petty and petulant, but when Fleetwood got to one off the lead it provided a communal lift.

Burns had led by two at the start of the day, but people had already started to chisel away at his pedestal even before he made the first tee. Young had made up five shots and Scheffler finally started to find some putts.

Burns and Fox, who both had record-equalling major rounds of 62 this week, got early birdies to settle into their round and there was a beautiful blend of possibilities.

There were many moments that will linger. Scheffler's ball disappeared into the hospitality suites on the 17th, but he got a TIO (temporary immovable object) relief and a birdie. It was reminiscent of Jordan Spieth's 2017 odyssey by the equipment trucks. You could imagine what DeChambeau felt about the scales of justice when comparing Friday's penalty for improving his lie with Scheffler's luck. DeChambeau? He finished six off the top, undone by a triple bogey on the 11th, and the R&A was no doubt delighted that Friday's much debated penalty had not proved decisive.

The weather and burnt-out rough gave this Open a very different look and feel. 'It didn't play like a traditional links course,' said McIlroy, who ended up nine off the top. 'I didn't feel like you could run the ball up to a lot of greens. It certainly wasn't the links test that Birkdale presented in 2017.'

But when all was said and done, controversial and otherwise, Birkdale had a finale, and a champion, to cherish.

– The Times, London