Ryan Fox won The Open Championship on Sunday, becoming New Zealand's second champion of the tournament after Sir Bob Charles in 1963, 39 years after his father, Grant Fox, won the Rugby World Cup with the All Blacks.
The 154th edition of golf's oldest major came down to the final putt of the final group, played a little after 6.30pm on a breezy evening at the seaside links of Royal Birkdale in Southport. Cameron Young had already finished, more than two hours earlier, with a total of nine under par, and for most of the afternoon it looked as though his score would be enough to win. Fox then stepped up in the 18th fairway and flew an iron 172 yards through a crosswind to 11 feet from the hole. Only five of the 77 players who had played the hole that week had managed to birdie it, and the smart money was on a play-off.
Fox became the 78th man to try. He holed the putt to finish on 10 under par after a closing round of 68, and was crowned Champion Golfer of the Year.
"Wow," Fox said afterwards. "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 this is a pretty cool one to bring back for them."
A family of champions
Grant Fox was the All Blacks' fly-half when they won the Rugby World Cup 39 years ago. Ryan Fox's maternal grandfather, Merv Wallace, also captained the New Zealand cricket team in the 1950s. Fox is the father of two daughters.
The chasing pack
Young shot a 64 to finish one shot behind Fox. Overnight leader Sam Burns, runner-up at last month's US Open, started the final round two shots clear of Fox in the same pairing but went bogey-bogey-bogey on the fourth, fifth and sixth holes and finished on eight under par.
Scottie Scheffler and local favourite Tommy Fleetwood finished on seven under par. Fleetwood bogeyed three holes in a row in the middle of his round. Scheffler shot a 67 but bogeyed the 18th, having stood on the tee needing a birdie to reach nine under.
Young's late collapse
Young, who started the day in 20th position, played the front nine in 29 strokes in the calmest conditions of the morning and continued to play well on the way in. But on the 18th tee, at 10 under par, he drove into a pot bunker. He then tried to attack the green from 180 yards short, only to thrash his approach into the face of the trap. Playing his third shot from the rough, he found sand by the green and made bogey, leaving him to wait more than two hours to see whether it would cost him the title.
A long wait for a first major
Fox is 39 and has spent 14 years on tour, winning twice on the PGA Tour and three times on the European circuit, but had never ranked higher than 23rd in the world. He arrived in Southport ranked 56th and had undergone surgery to remove kidney stones as recently as March.
Si Woo Kim reached 10 under par through 10 holes, meaning he, Burns, Young and Fox all held the lead at some point during the final round. He finished on six under. Bryson DeChambeau triple-bogeyed the 11th hole and finished with a 72. As the wind picked up through the afternoon on the baked links course, bogeys became common among the later groups.
Fox's outward nine was steady, playing the front in even par, before he seized his opportunities on the back nine. Birdies at the 13th and 14th holes gave him his first share of the lead, and two more in the closing three holes, played as the pressure peaked, proved to be the decisive moments of his maiden major championship.
