At 39, Ryan Fox Cracks the Code and Joins Golf’s Most Exclusive Club

Ryan Fox is a major champion. The 39-year-old New Zealander pulled it off at the Open Championship on Sunday, birdieing the 18th hole to finish at 10-under and beat Cameron Young by one shot. It wasn’t the prettiest round he played all week — far from it — but he found a way when it mattered most.

That Claret Jug puts Fox in some seriously weird company. According to the NBC broadcast, he’s now the third-oldest major winner in the last ten major seasons. Only Phil Mickelson, who was 50 when he won the 2021 PGA Championship, and Tiger Woods, 43 when he won the 2019 Masters, are older. Nobody saw that grouping coming.

Fox also joins Henrik Stenson as an older first-time major winner. Stenson was 40 when he won at Royal Troon in 2016. Fox is a few months younger than that. It’s been a long wait, but the guy delivered.

The Saturday That Set It Up and the Sunday That Almost Got Away

Fox shot a 62 on Saturday, which tied the record for the lowest round in Open history and was the eighth sub-63 round ever recorded in a major. He looked unstoppable. Then Sunday happened, and for the first 12 holes he looked human again — sputtering, missing putts, giving strokes back. But he found something over the closing stretch, pouring in four birdies in the final six holes to steal it.

Sam Burns, Si Woo Kim, and Ryan Gerard all had chances but couldn’t make anything happen on the greens. Fox just kept grinding. It took every one of those birdies to clip Young at the line.

History in More Ways Than One

Fox is only the third New Zealander to win a major, and the first since 2005. That alone is a big deal back home. But there’s another layer here. According to Justin Ray, the four major winners this season come from four different countries — Northern Ireland (Rory McIlroy), England (Aaron Rai), the United States (Wyndham Clark), and now New Zealand. That’s only happened once before in men’s golf history.

Fox will defend his title at St. Andrews in the 155th Open Championship next July. If you’re looking for a feel-good story from a season that’s had plenty of drama, this one’s pretty hard to beat.