Wily old Fox crowned ‘Champion Golfer of the Year’

Southport, England: Ryan Fox has taken an unconventional route to the top of professional golf. The New Zealander did not turn professional until he was 25, joined the DP World Tour as a rookie at 30 and reached the PGA Tour for the first time at 37. At 39, he has now become a Major champion.

Fox lifted the Claret Jug after winning the 154th Open Championship, admitting that his career had not followed the usual pattern. He said he would be satisfied if he could continue improving gradually each year.

The victory fulfilled a lifelong ambition for Fox, who used to wake up during the night in New Zealand to watch The Open on television. He described becoming Champion Golfer of the Year as unbelievable, surreal and almost impossible to put into words.

Fox sealed the title with a 12-foot birdie putt on the final hole at Royal Birkdale Golf Club, edging American Cameron Young by one stroke. A closing round of two-under 68 gave him a 10-under total of 270 over four rounds on the famous Lancashire links.

The win made Fox only the fourth New Zealander to claim a men’s Major. He followed Sir Bob Charles, who won The Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 1963, Michael Campbell, who captured the US Open in 2005, and Lydia Ko, a three-time LPGA Tour Major winner.

Fox said becoming part of New Zealand’s sporting history was something he had never expected to achieve. He added that the result could have a significant impact on golf in his home country.

Before beginning his professional career, Fox represented New Zealand in the first three editions of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship. He missed the cut at the inaugural event at Mission Hills in China in 2009 after rounds of 77 and 79.

He improved to a tie for 34th at Kasumigaseki Country Club in 2010 before finishing joint 17th at Singapore Island Country Club in 2011. His three-under total of 285 left him 12 shots behind fourth-placed Cameron Smith and 15 behind champion Hideki Matsuyama.

Fox has now joined Smith, who won The Open in 2023, and Matsuyama, the 2022 Masters champion, as the third Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship alumnus to win a men’s Major.

Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation Chairman Philip Hassall congratulated Fox, saying his victory had made New Zealanders proud.

Winning The Open appeared unlikely at the halfway point, when Fox was tied for 52nd. However, he produced a remarkable eight-under 62 on Saturday—the joint-lowest single-round score in men’s Major history—to move into contention before completing his comeback on Sunday.

His triumph also represents the biggest 36-hole positional comeback ever recorded in a men’s Major championship.