Ryan Fox delivered one of the most inspired performances of all time to win the Claret Jug at Royal Birkdale.
It was the biggest 36-hole comeback by position in major championship history by Fox, who became the lowest-ranked winner of The Open in 15 years at Royal Birkdale.
When the lights were brightest, Fox played his best golf, recording birdies on two of the last three holes, including an incredible birdie on 18, to snatch the win from Cameron Young.
18 was one of the toughest holes on the golf course all week, and a par would have been enough to get into a playoff with Young. But instead Fox played it aggressively, and was rewarded with a major championship.
What he told his caddie standing on the 18th tee box shows exactly why he was able to get the job done.
Ryan Fox told his caddie he was going for a birdie
It would have been more than reasonable for Fox to attempt to get through the 18th hole with a par and test his luck in a playoff with Young. We’d seen so many players get out of shape on this immensely difficult hole and end up with costly bogeys, Young included on his final round.
But Fox said to his caddie that he was going for a birdie, and if it goes terribly wrong, he can live knowing he tried. Speaking on the Shotgun Start podcast, he said, “I was trying to make birdie 100%.
“I had a conversation with my caddie, Dean, on the tee. I watch leaderboards. I knew where I was. I knew I had to make birdie. I knew Cam was in at nine. I’m at nine. I’ve got to make birdie. If I want to win, I’ve got to make a birdie.
“And I said to him, ‘I’m going to take this on. I’ll live with the consequences if I stuff this up.’ Well, it probably wasn’t those words. I probably swore or something like that. That’s what normally would have happened. But I was happy to live by the sword and die by the sword in that scenario.
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“If I had hit in the bunker and made bogey there, like would I have been gutted? Absolutely.
But I still feel like I could have walked away with my head held really high and gone, ‘That was still a great week. I had a chance to win an Open. I took it on. It didn’t work out. Hopefully I get another shot at it, but if I don’t, so be it.’
“And obviously it went the other way.”
This mentality, combined with execution, is exactly why Fox was the one to win The Open. Young and Scottie Scheffler were aggressive down the stretch and didn’t pull it off. Tommy Fleetwood was conservative at times, and he fell off the pace.
But Fox was aggressive and hit the shots, and that’s what it takes to win a major championship.
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