King of the links: Ryan Fox birdies 18 to win historic Open Championship at Birkdale

Дата публикации: 19-07-2026 18:26:54

New Zealander claims one-stroke win over American Cameron Young

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SOUTHPORT, England — There was the briefest of moments on the 72nd hole at Royal Birkdale when time seemed to stand still as Ryan Fox’s approach shot reached its apex and just hung in the air. Tens of thousands of people stared at the sky silently waiting to see whether the last bounce of the Open Championship would be good or bad, lucky or unlucky.

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“I did say to my caddie, Dean, on the tee that we were going to take it on, that I was going to try to win the tournament,” Fox said after it was all finished. “And I’d live with the consequences if I stuffed it up.”

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The first sounds were gasps, followed quickly by a roar, as the massive gallery surrounding the treacherous 18th green realized the shot was perfect. The burly New Zealander Fox had piped a drive down the middle, and followed it with a towering approach to 11 feet on one of the toughest closing holes on the Open rota, with history hanging in the balance.

All that was left to do was hole the putt. And he did.

Fox’s closing birdie moved him to 10-under par, propelled him one stroke clear of American Cameron Young, and earned him the Claret Jug as the 154th Open Champion.

Despite all that was on the line, Fox had stepped right up and poured it in the hole with a swiftness and authority that surely had the links land greats of centuries past tipping their cap and raising a drink.

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After the round, however, Fox would describe it slightly differently with a glimpse of honesty from the sport’s newest champion.

“I hit two shots exactly how I wanted to hit them,” Fox said of the final hole. “I didn’t feel anything for the putt; everything was shaking that much. I was just happy to hit it somewhat near the hole, and to see it go in was incredible.”

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After becoming, on Saturday, the third player of the week to tie the major championship scoring record of 62, Fox followed it up with a two-under 68 that included birdies at the par-5 16th and closing par-4 18th.

“It’s something you dream of. I used to get up in the middle of the night to watch this tournament back home. It was always something that was there just to be able to play in it, first up, and now to be an Open champion, to be the Champion Golfer of the Year, it’s unbelievable, surreal, crazy. I don’t have enough words in my vocabulary to explain it, to be honest,” Fox said.

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Sam Burns finished solo third at eight-under, finishing his week with 12 consecutive pars.

A tournament week that risked losing its way with chaos and controversy was mercifully settled by triumph rather than failure.

It was a week of pure links golf magic as a heatwave mixed with a drought turned Royal Birkdale into a baked-out and brown test of shot-making control as golf balls skipped and bounded down rock hard fairways in search of humps, bumps and long grass.

But the harsh course conditions were paired with some of the most benign weather conditions in Open memory. All week long, sun had drenched the legendary course in North West England as winds that wouldn’t so much as raise an eyebrow of a single local golfer blew gently across the links.

For three days nothing could stop the best players in the world from re-writing the record books as Fox was joined by Burns and Aussie Lucas Herbert in the 62-club at a major championship. Turns out, the only thing that could slow the leaders down was the pressure of a Sunday with a Claret Jug on the line.

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Fox’s 10-under winning total was the same score Burns started the final round with, as overnight leaders struggled to separate themselves from chasers.

The round of the day came from Young, who began the day seven shots back, but fired a six-under 64 to take the clubhouse lead, posting a nine-under total that looked like it might stand up as the day went on.

“I was really just proud of the way I put it together, the way I did it more than the round itself,” Young said. “I feel like I was really clear minded all day. I had a really clear intention what I was going to do. Yeah, just executed that really, really well, and it happened to add up to 64.”

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and hometown hero Tommy Fleetwood finished tied for fourth at seven-under.

Scheffler couldn’t get his putter going all week and it’s a testament to his tee-to-green game that he managed to claw his way into contention.

Si Woo Kim briefly held the lead before faltering down the stretch to finish at six-under in a tie for sixth with Casey Jarvis and Herbert.

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Scheffler also took time to offer a defense of Bryson DeChambeau’s character after the LIV golfer briefly took over the narrative on Friday at Birkdale for the manner in which he dealt with being assessed a two-stroke penalty for stomping through the long grass and possibly improving his stance and swing at the fifth hole.

“All I’ll say is Bryson, I’ve known him for a long time, and he’s a lot of things, but he’s definitely not a cheater,” Scheffler said. “I’ve never seen him cheat once, whether we were having a putting contest on the putting green or chipping contest, or anytime we played amateur golf, I never saw anything suspicious.”

DeChambeau’s Sunday was sunk by a triple bogey at the par-4 11th hole, and he finished with a two-over 72 and in a four-way tie for 14th at four-under, along with Canadian Corey Conners.

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