You’d be hard-pressed to find a more popular major winner than Ryan Fox.
The 39-year-old New Zealander has spent his life touring the world, trying to find his way in professional golf. He earned a PGA Tour card in 2024, and two years later finally won a major championship.
Fox resonated with the crowd at Royal Birkdale, earning their unwavering support on Sunday as he went on a back-nine charge to snatch the Claret Jug from Cameron Young’s hands. And his victory was also popular among players, many of whom reached out to Fox after his win.
But one message in particular, from Justin Thomas, has stuck with Fox ever since he received it.
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Thomas is a two-time winner of the PGA Championship, and has learned a valuable lesson from those victories which he has imparted onto Fox after his win at Birkdale.
His message, sent on Instagram to Fox, was all about learning how to treasure the moment.
Speaking on Shotgun Start, Fox was asked for the best message he received after winning the Claret Jug, and he replied, “I’ve had a lot. I would say I had a message from Justin Thomas on Instagram.
“It was a well done first, and he came back and said, ‘You know I’ll give you one piece of advice: remember every little detail because you’re going to want to be able to bring that out at some point, to be able to look back on it and think of all those good feelings’
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“And I was like, that’s pretty cool coming from a two-time major champion, and I’ve had a lot of really nice messages from my peers, from other sports people around. But yeah, that one stood out for me as- that’s a real little nugget of information there that someone who’s lived it has imparted onto me, and that was pretty cool.”
Fox will be asked about this win for the rest of his life. This will be the victory he is remembered for. So Thomas’ advice will serve him well as he recounts this story for decades to come.
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