Kiwi Ryan Fox makes rare birdie on Birkdale’s 18th to become a major champion

New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, who had not finished in the top-10 in 29 previous major championship starts, sank a 12-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to capture the 154th Open Championship on Sunday at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England.

The resilient Kiwi, who overcame a couple of bad breaks coming home, converted just the fifth birdie of the day at the long par-4 18th hole, sneaking his ball in the left side. He raised both arms in triumph in becoming the second man from New Zealand to win the Claret Jug and claim the title of Champion Golfer of the Year. Fox, 39, joins Bob Charles, who won in 1963 just up the road from Birkdale at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.

Fox, who began the day trailing 54-hole leader Sam Burns by two, birdied four of his final six holes to rally for a closing 68 to complete 72 holes in 10-under 270 to edge Cameron Young by a stroke. Combined with his 62 in the third round—the third player after Burns and Lucas Herbert to tie the major championship scoring record—Fox matched the lowest final 36 holes in the championship at 130. Ranked 56th in the world, Fox collected $3.25 million from the record $17.75 million purse.

Ryan Fox. Nerves of steel.

That is how you win The 154th Open. pic.twitter.com/M6YxCYEuXA

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 19, 2026

“It’s unbelievable. I’m still not sure what to think. It is a dream come true,” Fox said after an emotional phone call with his family who was still in New Zealand and the trophy ceremony. “I’m not quite sure how I hit that putt at 18. It’s surreal that it went in. Yeah, Champion Golfer of the Year has a pretty good ring to it.”

Young, relegated to his second runner-up finish in the Open, started the final round seven off the pace after he bogeyed four of his final eight holes on Saturday to shoot 73 but then established a clubhouse lead that held up for more than two hours and until the final stroke from Fox.

The reigning Players champion, Young, 29, teed off two hours, 15 minutes ahead of the final pairing of Burns and Fox, and he did just about everything he could to emerge with the title. He birdied his first three holes and four of his first five to begin his final round. He went out in five-under 39, and when he birdied the two par-5s on the inward nine, Young was alone at the top at 10 under par. However, after finding a fairway bunker off the tee at the long par-4 18th, Young thinned his second into the bunker face and was fortunate that his ball caromed sideways into the rough. His third found another bunker greenside, and he got up and down for bogey for a 64, low round of the day. As contenders struggled on the baked-out Birkdale layout, Young’s nine-under 271 total kept holding up.

With six holes remaining, six players were still in the hunt to catch him. That included defending champion Scottie Scheffler, who, despite a cold putter throughout the championship, somehow managed to hang around—as he usually does. Needing a birdie at the last to tie Young at nine under par, Scheffler pushed his drive into the right rough and came up short of the green on his second. He used a putter for his third but knocked his ball 10 feet past the hole. The world No. 1 player missed the par putt to shoot 67 and ended up T-4 with hometown favourite Tommy Fleetwood at 273.

Si Woo Kim, who came into the championship with one top-10 finish in 37 major starts, climbed over Young into first with birdies at Nos. 5 and 6. However, he gave back four strokes coming home to shoot 72-274 for joint sixth place.

Burns, who almost skipped the championship after his wife Caroline gave birth to their second child on July 3, notched an early birdie at the second hole to reach 11 under par, but three bogeys in a row starting at the fourth proved his undoing. He made all pars the rest for 72, and he finished third at 272 for his second straight major disappointment after a runner-up finish at the U.S. Open at Shinnecock.

“I played a lot of great golf this week. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my best stuff today and made a couple of mistakes early,” Burns said. “Ryan played amazingly. He’s a well-earned champion, and hats off to him. He did what he needed to do down the stretch.”

The day was not without some Bryson DeChambeau drama. The two-time U.S. Open winner, who began the day four back, made triple bogey at the par-4 11th hole when his third shot from the left rough from 134 yards flew over the green and couldn’t be found despite playing in front of a large gallery. DeChambeau salvaged 72 and dropped to T-14 at 276.

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