Fox catches the Claret Jug with final hole birdie

Ryan Fox ended over 60 years of hurt for New Zealand in The Open Championship when rallying from tied 56th after 36 holes to top the leaderboard at Royal Birkdale with a stunning last-gasp birdie.

Not since Bob Charles captured the Claret Jug at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 1963 has a New Zealander won golf’s greatest prize, but all those years have rolled away now that Fox, the son of All Blacks rugby legend Grant Fox, added his name to the roll call of Champion Golfers of the Year with a nerveless display of powerful driving and precision putting over four dusty days on the Southport coast.

On a frantic and, at times, frenetic final day on the Merseyside links, when world no.4 Cameron Young’s final round 64 seemed to have set the winning score at nine under par over two hours before the final group finished, world no.56 Fox, birdied four of the last six holes to wrestle the Claret Jug from the American’s grasp and instigate a celebration that his dad would have been hard pressed to match when winning the Rugby World Cup with the All Blacks back in 1987.

On a week when the later starters always seemed to be playing in the worst of the conditions – a marginally stronger wind with slightly rougher putting surfaces – Fox started the final round in a share of second place after rocketing up the leaderboard on Saturday with the third 62 of the week, which saw him two behind 54-hole leader Sam Burns, who was also bidding to win his first major championship after several recent near misses.

The chasing pack, comprising Si-Woo Kim, Lucas Herbert, Tommy Fleetwood, Bryson DeChambeau and Scottie Scheffler, all had their moments, but none of them were able to lay a glove on Young, who started his round relatively early on Sunday morning on three under par, seven shots behind Burns. Playing with the handbrake off, the reigning Players Championship winner birdied four of the first five holes to go out in 29, and then birdied 14 and 17 to reach -10. Needing to par the last for a 63, the American found a fairway bunker off the tee and caught the lip on the way out, leading to a costly bogey that dropped him back to -9, but good enough to take a healthy clubhouse lead.

One by one, the main protagonists fell away. Kim’s hopes ended with four dropped shots on the back nine; DeChambeau’s drama-filled tournament imploded with a triple-bogey  on 11; defending champion Scheffler bogeyed 15 and 18 to finish on seven under, while Fleetwood’s brave attempt to become the first Englishman to win the Open in 34 years unravelled at the turn with bogeys at 9, 10 and 11, although he gamely rallied with birdies at 17 and 18 to finish fourth.

That left the two last men standing, Burns and Fox, to battle it out, and it was the last act on 18 that took the breath away, after Fox had failed to birdie the far easier par-five 17th. With only four players having managed to make a three down the 503-yard par four 18th on Sunday, up stepped Fox and smacked a driver 325 yards straight down the middle, leaving himself 175 yards to the flag. A crisp 8-iron to the heart of the green left an 11-foot putt for birdie and golfing history.

With Burns’ own 25-foot birdie attempt slipping just by the hole, Fox wasted no time in sizing up his putt before cooly stroking it into the bottom of the cup. Cue much fist-pumping and universal applause from packed grandstands, with the fans standing as one to applaud what was a stupendous climax to the final major of the season.

“I did say to my caddie on the 18th tee that we were going to take it on, that I was going to try to win the tournament, and I’d live with the consequences if I stuffed it up,” said Fox, who had never previously finished in the top 10 at a major in 28 attempts. “So to go out there and execute that drive, which is not a very comfortable tee shot, and to hit it in the fairway and give myself a chance was huge.

“I didn’t feel anything for the putt – everything was shaking that much,” added Fox, who was a 100-1 outsider at the start of the tournament. “It’s not a very comfortable feeling, but it’s certainly very enjoyable when you see it go in.”

Asked if winning the claret jug matched any of his family’s other sporting successes – in addition to his dad, Fox’s maternal grandfather captained New Zealand’s cricket team back in the 1940s and 50s – he replied: “I don’t know if this tops their achievements, but it’s certainly right up there. I guess there’s no pressure on my kids going forward now!”

Final Leaderboard

For all the scores from the 154th Open Championship, click here.