The off-Broadway PGA Tour event on Sunday came down to a United Nations playoff of sorts, featuring an American folk-hero in the making, a Canadian already with a trophy, and a 38-year-old New Zealander intent on conquering the new world.

The latter, Ryan Fox, won the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic played opposite the more prestigious Truist Championship, by holing a birdie chip from the fringe on the back of the green on the first playoff hole at Dunes Golf and Beach Club in Myrtle Beach. It gave him the last exemption into the PGA Championship three hours up the road at Quail Hollow.

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Fox, who has won four times on the DP World Tour, beat Texan Harry Higgs, a big man with a big personality in search of a bigger stage, and Canadian Mackenzie Hughes, a two-time PGA Tour winner.

“I had a pretty similar line in regulation,” Fox said of the winning chip from 54 feet. “I knew it kind of didn’t break much. I felt like I hit two pretty good shots to get there. Just going to hit it down the slope. Both those guys had makeable chances. I felt like I had to give it a go. When it landed, I thought, this has got a chance.

“It’s been a tough couple of seasons out here. Just got my card last year. Haven’t had a great start this year so far. I’ve always felt my game was good enough to play with the best in the world, and I got to show it a little bit today, and hopefully it kick-starts the rest of the year for me.”

Fox, finishing well ahead of Higgs and Hughes, played the final six holes in three under par to close with a five-under 66 and a 72-hole total of 15-under-par 269. He repaired to the practice tee to hit balls in the event of an eventual playoff that materialized when Hughes, the leader, bogeyed the 18th hole and Higgs was unable to convert a 26-foot birdie putt to win for the first time on the PGA Tour.

“I’m proud and bummed out,” Higgs, 34, said. “It felt like this one was mine. Hopefully I get another chance, and I think that I will. I think that I’m on the right path, as long as I continue it. I’ve had issues getting slightly complacent when I have some success, so I would like to prove to myself that I’ve learned from that and continue to get in the mix.

“This was so much fun. That’s, again, the reason why you do the 4 a.m. wake-ups, flying all around, doing all the things that we have to do just to have the chance that I just had. I really enjoyed it. I’m really looking forward to the next time that I have this chance.”

Hughes, meanwhile, was on the verge of going into the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, where he now lives and is a member of the club there, with momentum. He took a one-shot lead into the 18th hole, then pulled his tee shot into trees left of the fairway and had to pitch out, leading to a bogey five.

It gave both Fox and Hughes a reprieve on which the former cashed in with his clutch birdie chip.

Main Image: Jonathan Bachman