Ryan Fox claims maiden major title as birdie at the last seals Open triumph

New Zealander Ryan Fox kept his head while all around him were losing theirs

Ryan Fox of New Zealand celebrates a birdie putt on the 18th to win The 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in Southport. Picture: Jacob King/PA Wire. 

New Zealand’s Ryan Fox etched his name in Open Championship history as he claimed victory with a birdie at the last to win by one shot from American Cameron Young.

The 39-year-old son of All Blacks great Grant Fox completed a perfect weekend’s performance at Royal Birkdale on Sunday with a final-round 68, 24 hours after shooting a men’s major championship record-equalling low round of 62. That had put Fox into the last group out for the final round with 54-hole leader Sam Burns, who had begun the last 18 holes as favourite with a two-shot lead to go one better than his runner-up finish behind Wyndham Clark at last month’s US Open.

Yet despite being the only player to reach 11 under par for the tournament with a birdie at the second hole, Burns could not sustain his bid and with his compatriot Young early into the clubhouse on nine under par following a closing 64, it was Fox who rose to the challenge of chasing down the target.

Young had bogeyed his 72nd hole to fall from 10 under to nine under and he sensed it might not be enough when he said: “I thought 10 had a decent chance.” 

Yet it was not until the final group played the last hole that his prediction was realised.

Burns, who had also shot a 62 on the same day as Australia’s Lucas Herbert on Friday, had a 35-foot birdie putt to force a play-off with at least Young, but saw his ball run three feet past the hole, leaving Fox to have his shot at a maiden major victory.

“Oh, wow. I don't really know what to think at the moment,” Fox said as he clutched the Claret Jug for the first time. “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 this is a pretty cool one to bring back for them.” 

Young was out on the practice range, preparing for a play-off as the New Zealander lined up his birdie putt from inside 12 feet but Fox’s nerveless dispatch rendered any extra holes unnecessary. His previous best showing in nine previous Open appearances had come at Portrush in 2019, 13 shots adrift of champion Shane Lowry. Now his name sits proudly alongside the Irishman’s and so many more of the game’s greatest golfers.

Young, 29, must settle for his second Open Championship runner-up finish having lost out to Australian Cameron Smith by a single stroke at St Andrews in 2022 while Burns, also 29, took third place, two shots behind Fox after signing for a two-over final-round 72 to finish on eight under..

The Open record crowds of 300,000-plus for the week in the English north-west were denied their dream finish of a victory for Southport native Tommy Fleetwood but while the local favourite failed to end a 32-year run without an English winner of this championship, the world number nine left the 72nd hole to a standing ovation as he closed with a birdie. That moved the European Ryder Cup star into a tie for fourth with outgoing champion Scottie Scheffler on seven under par. 

World number one Scheffler had given himself a live chance of regaining the title he had won 12 months ago at Portrush, carding a remarkable birdie at the par-five 17th. He had missed the fairway and then sent his second shot into a hospitality stand, but even having played a provisional ball the American still carded a birdie four, only to bogey the last for a three-under 67.

Bryson DeChambeau’s eventful week ended in disappointment as he failed to mount a challenge during the final round, undone by a triple bogey seven at the 11th hole. The American LIV golfer, a two-time US champion, his previous triple of the week was the controversial second-round negotiation of the fifth hole, where he had been penalised two strokes for improving his lie. It meant instead of starting the weekend in the final group, two shots back of halfway leader Lucas Herbert, his round was downgraded from a 66 to a 68. DeChambeau never matched either of the scores over the last two rounds, scoring a 69 on Saturday and a 72 to close, finishing off the pace on four under par in a tie for 14th.

As for the Irish, former Open champions both, Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy’s challenges ended with bogeys at the 72nd hole, neatly encapsulating a tournament which for both men never sparked into life.

Lowry had on Saturday night said he would need his best golf to threaten the top of the leaderboard and briefly delivered with back-to-back birdies to recover from an opening bogey. Yet at five under and poised for charged, the 2019 Champion Golfer at Portrush stalled. Consecutive bogeys at 10 and 11 set the tone for the back nine, another pair at 15 and 16 sent Lowry further behind and despite a wonderful eagle three at the 17th, the ending was not the flourish he would have hoped for.

Signing for a closing 72, two over par for both his round and the tournament, Lowry declined to speak to the media as he left the recorder’s office.

World number two McIlroy did speak, though the review of his week was downbeat following a one-over 71 which left the six-time major winner and back-to-back Masters champion on one over for the tournament.

“I just sort of stuck in neutral for most of the week,” McIlroy said. “Obviously shot a good one on Friday to get myself in for the weekend and back in it. Yeah, even par over the weekend is not going to get it done.

“Yeah, I just felt like any time I got a little bit of momentum out there, I seemed to make a bogey. Yeah, just one of those weeks I couldn't get it going.”