Kiwi Ryan Fox wins The Open Championship

Media Release:

The vagaries of links golf landed two late blows yet Ryan Fox took his place among golf immortality with an imperious finish to claim the 2026 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale Golf Club.

When his ball cannoned into the revetted face of the greenside bunker at the par-3 15th, the 39-year-old Kiwi was forced to take a step back both literally and figuratively, playing his second shot backwards as he made a bogey.

He responded with a birdie from 10 feet on 16 to draw level again with American Cameron Young (64) who was sitting comfortably in the clubhouse but then somehow found the fairway bunker 328 yards in the distance despite hitting iron off the tee at the par-5 17th.

The ball only just dribbled into the left edge of the trap, forcing Fox to stand out of the bunker to play his second shot, manufacturing a par to stay tied at 9-under heading to the 72nd hole.

As others failed to meet the moment, Fox made his undeniable, playing three of the greatest consecutive shots he will ever play in his life at Birkdale's toughest hole to claim the Claret Jug.

The tee shot was blistered 330 yards into the fairway.

His 9-iron from 175 yards flirted with the right trap before coming to rest 12 feet from championship glory.

The putt was executed in such typically fast Fox fashion that he’d started celebrating before the ball had settled in the bottom of the cup.

Fox (68, 10-under) now joins Sir Bob Charles as the only New Zealanders to be crowned Champion Golfer of the Year, coming 63 years after Charles’s triumph at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s in 1963.

“It's unbelievable, to be honest. I still don't know what to think,” Fox said shortly after collecting the Claret Jug.

“My nerves are all over the place. I'm not quite sure how I hit that putt on 18.

“Yeah, it is a dream come true. Looking at this trophy now is the first time I've seen it up close, so it's pretty amazing.”

The Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner in 2019, Fox matched the major championship low of 62 on Saturday to play his way into the final group on Sunday alongside American Sam Burns.

Starting the day two back, Fox kept pace with his playing partner in the final group with a birdie from 15 feet at the par-4 second and stayed in the fight with a run of six straight pars.

He would receive a free drop on his way to making par at the par-4 fifth, left a birdie putt agonisingly short at six and then holed a 10-footer for par on seven.

It took two goes to find the green after hitting his second shot long into the par-4 ninth and when he missed a seven-footer for par on 11 to drop to 7-under, hopes were fading.

But the championship was crying out for a player to take command, and Fox answered the call.

He birdied four of his final six holes to consign Young to second place, Lucas Herbert (71, T6) and Adam Scott (66, T9), making it a week to remember for the Australasian contingent and guaranteeing their place at the 2027 Open Championship at St Andrews.

“I said to my caddie through six or eight holes, I feel a lot better than I thought I would feel right now,” Fox added.

“I played really solid early and then I hit some great shots down the stretch and to play that last hole, how I did… I stood on the tee and said to my caddie Dean, ‘We're going to try to win this.’

“I hit two perfect shots and I'm not sure how I hit the putt. As I said, my hands were all over the place. I was just trying to get it towards the hole somewhere and it's surreal that it went in.

“Champion Golfer of the Year's got a pretty good ring to it.”

Seven-under at the start of play, Aussie Lucas Herbert fell back to 6-under when he needed two shots to extricate himself from a greenside bunker at three but recouped that stroke when he was pin-high with his tee shot at the par-4 fifth and got up-and-down for birdie.

A three-putt from 75 feet would drop the Victorian back to 6-under at six before he reignited his championship aspirations with birdies from five and nine feet respectively either side of the turn.

That momentum took a hit when the 30-year-old failed to save par from the sand on 11, his birdie try from 30 feet losing steam late to turn under the hole.

Three days after celebrating his 46th birthday, Scott registered the 21st major championship top 10 of his career and first in two years courtesy of a closing 4-under 66.

Starting the final round just inside the top 40 at 1-under par, Scott was 3-under through 10 holes before missing the green short and right at the par-4 11th and failed to get up-and-down.

He would make birdies at 14, 16 and 17 – the last of which featured a 373-yard drive – and then two-putt from 18 feet on 18 in his 101st consecutive major for a closing par.

“It's hard coming off the course trying to sum up exactly how I should feel,” said Scott, who was the inaugural recipient of the R&A’s Spirit of Golf Award earlier in the week.

“I think I played better than I thought I was, and yesterday was a bit of a killer day. I had four three-putts out there yesterday. It doesn't matter where you're playing or what the conditions are, you just can't afford to do that at the major championship level and hope to be up there.

“A lot of positives. A couple rounds of 66 is good at a major.”

Conversely, Victorian Cameron John left Birkdale with memories to last a lifetime despite a final round of 2-over 72.

Tied for 11th through three rounds and seeking to become just the fifth Australian to top 10 in their Open Championship debut, John began with five straight pars before holing his shot from just off the green for birdie at the tough par-4 sixth.

Missing the green left would lead to a bogey at the par-3 seventh, a similar miss with his approach shot leading to an identical result at the par-4 13th.

Another left miss with his second would not prevent the 27-year-old from making birdie at the par-5 17th, ending the week in a tie for 28th with bogey at the last after his tee shot found the fairway trap.

Final Australasian scores

1          Ryan Fox (NZ)               72-68-62-68—270
T6        Lucas Herbert               70-62-71-71—274
T9        Adam Scott                  72-66-71-66—275
T28      Cameron John              70-67-69-72—278
T28      Kazuma Kobori (NZ)     70-69-67-72—278
T59      Min Woo Lee                70-71-71-70—282
MC       Cameron Smith            73-69—142
MC       Daniel Hillier (NZ)         72-70—142
MC       Travis Smyth                71-72—143
MC       Jason Day                    73-71—144

 

Back to News

More News