Fox captures Claret Jug with last hole birdie – Golf News

Ryan Fox ended New Zealand’s more than 60-year losing streak at the Open Championship when he finished tied for 56th after 36 holes to top the leaderboard at Royal Birkdale with a stunning final birdie.

Not since Bob Charles took the Claret Jug at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 1963 has a New Zealander won golf’s greatest prize, but all those years are over now as Fox, son of All Blacks rugby legend Grant Fox, added his name to the roll call of Champion Golfers of the Year with a fearless display of driving power and accuracy on the south harbor coast.

On a hot and, at times, tumultuous final day on the Merseyside links, where Cameron Young’s final round 4 of 64 seemed to have put the winning score at nine under par more than two hours before the last group was finished, world no.56 Fox, birdied four of the last six holes to take on the Claret Jug from the American stigate to win his hard-fought match. the Rugby World Cup with the All Blacks back in 1987.

In a week where the recent starters always seemed to be playing in worse conditions – less strong winds with more adverse conditions – Fox started the final round in second place after rounding the leaderboard on Saturday with the third 62 of the week, which put him two behind 54-hole leader Sam Burns, who was also looking to win his first major tournament of late.

The chasing pack, which included Si-Woo Kim, Lucas Herbert, Tommy Fleetwood, Bryson DeChambeau and Scottie Scheffler, all had their moments, but none of them could lay a glove on Young, who started his early Sunday morning round three under par, seven shots behind Burns. Playing with the handbrake off, the Players Championships winner birdied four of the first five holes to go 29, then bogeyed 14 and 17 to get to -10. Needing a final par in 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 it was enough to lead the clubhouse to health.

One by one, the main characters fall. Kim’s hopes ended up dropping four shots after the ninth; DeChambeau’s drama-filled tournament was capped by a triple-bogey on 11; Defending champion Scheffler birdied 15 and 18 to finish on 7 under, while Fleetwood’s valiant bid to become the first Englishman to win the Open in 34 years came as he bogeyed 9, 10 and 11, although he combined for birdies on 17 and 18 to finish fourth.

That left the last two men standing, Burns and Fox, to battle it out, and it was the final action on the 18th that took the wind out, after Fox failed to birdie a very easy birdie on the par-five 17th. With only four players able to get off the 503-yard par-four 18 on Sunday, Fox stepped up and hit driver 325 yards down the fairway, leaving himself 175 yards to the flag. A brilliant 8-iron into the heart of the green left an 11-foot putt in birdie and golf history.

As Burns tried to slide closer to the hole, Fox wasted no time in balancing his putt before caressing it down into the cup. Cue the international fist-pumping and applause from social media, as fans stood together to applaud what was a great climax to the season’s final highlights.

“I told my caddy on the 18th that we’re going to play it, that I’m going to try to win the tournament, and I’m going to live with the consequences if I screw it up,” said Fox, who had never finished in the top 10 in 28 attempts. “So to go out and make that drive, which is not comfortable, and to hit the fairway and give myself a chance was huge.

“I didn’t feel anything about the putt – everything was moving so much,” added Fox, who was 100-1 at the start of the tournament. “It’s not the most comfortable feeling, but it’s definitely more fun when you see it coming in.”

Asked if winning the claret was like any other sporting achievement for his family – in addition to his father, Fox’s maternal grandfather captained the New Zealand cricket team in the 1940s and 50s – he replied: “I don’t know if this is more than their achievements, but it’s certainly at a higher level now. I think my kids are going forward.”

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