Updated ,first published
Southport: Ryan Fox’s against-the-odds triumph at Royal Birkdale on Sunday, becoming the first New Zealander in 63 years to win the British Open, was made all the more remarkable by a conversation with his famous father 13 years ago when he was on the verge of walking away from golf.
The year was 2013, and Fox was in his second season on the Australasian tour. He wasn’t winning, wasn’t enjoying himself and certainly wasn’t making much money.
He arrived at the Australian Masters at Royal Melbourne after “badly” missing the cut at the Australian PGA, wondering whether professional golf was really for him.
His father, New Zealand rugby royalty Grant Fox, who won the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987, was on the bag as a caddie and asked him one simple question.
Why do you play?
“I said, well, it’s supposed to be fun. But it wasn’t really very fun at the time,” Fox recalled. “He goes, ‘Let’s just go out this week and try to have some fun’.
“I think I finished fifth that week, and that made enough to keep my card for the year. It took the pressure off the rest of the year, and I came back the following year and played really, really well.
“I was very close to giving it up at that point.”
With a nerveless 3.5-metre birdie putt on the 18th green in front of a packed grandstand on Sunday, Fox finally shook the tag of being Grant Fox’s son by winning the British Open.
The 39-year-old, who began the day in the final group after a brilliant third round 62, closed with a two-under 68 to finish at 10-under, one shot clear of American Cam Young.
Australia’s great hope Lucas Herbert briefly threatened before fading with a one-over 71 to finish six-under in a tie for sixth, one shot ahead of Adam Scott.
As Herbert addressed reporters afterwards, he watched Fox’s winning putt disappear into the cup on a television nearby.
“I guess I’m chopped liver now,” Herbert joked.
“It is what it is. It was a great experience. I can’t be too upset. A lot of positives to take. This is my best finish in a major. I genuinely contended. I was up around the lead for the last, what, 45 holes? There’s a lot to take away from that.”
Fox’s victory was built on resilience as the pressure intensified on the back nine. A horror lie in a bunker on the par-three 15th forced him to chip backwards towards the tee box, before salvaging a bogey with a superb up-and-down.
After making birdies on the 13th, 14th and 16th holes, he needed one more for glory on the 18th. Fox promised himself he wouldn’t die wondering, telling his caddy he could live with the consequences for the rest of his life if he produced a bad drive on the most difficult hole on the course.
He smashed a perfect drive and fired in a nine-iron from 160 metres. Fox then stayed true to his reputation as one of golf’s quickest players by sinking the winning putt almost before the crowd had time to process the moment.
He became the first New Zealander to lift the Claret Jug since Sir Bob Charles in 1963, marking one of the unlikeliest major triumphs in modern golf. His previous best finish in a major was a tie for 16th at the 2019 Open, making him just the second player to win a major without previously recording a top-10 finish.
“I was a rookie on the DP World Tour at 30. I was a rookie on the PGA Tour at 37 and now a major champion at 39,” Fox said. “The Aussie tour was the first tour I played on. It’s a really underrated tour.
“If you’d have given me my career up until yesterday when I first turned pro, I would have jumped at it. Now I probably would have killed people for it.”
Nic Dastey, a close friend of Fox and PGA Australia’s general manager of tournaments, was beaming with pride watching on.
“The greatest thing I could say about Ryan is he hasn’t changed from the moment he first turned professional. This won’t change him either,” Dastey said.
“He’s just a fantastic human being. He’s someone that if you could model the professional golfer on, and someone we would want as a tour member, he’s it. He’s brilliant, and he will always continue to give back to Australian and New Zealand golf.”
Fox also forged a close friendship with Shane Warne and dedicated his 2022 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship victory on the Old Course at St Andrews to the spin king. Warne would have been proud of Fox’s poise.
Sunday’s celebrations reflected just how unexpected the moment was. Fox had won twice previously on the PGA Tour, yet when he was asked to crack a champagne bottle for a photo, those nearby could hear him laughing that he had never done it before.
“I don’t really know what to think at the moment,” Fox said. “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. 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.
“It’s something you dream of. I used to get up in the middle of the night to watch this tournament back home. It’s unbelievable, surreal, crazy. I don’t have enough words in my vocabulary to explain it, to be honest.”
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Tom Decent is the chief sports writer for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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