Ryan Fox moment in scoring tent after Open Championship sums it all up

Daniel BlackhamSun, July 19, 2026 at 7:10 PM UTC

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Ryan Fox won The Open Championship by defeating Cameron Young in a thriller -Credit:GETTY

Ryan Fox shared a sweet moment with his wife and children after winning The Open Championship - despite them not being present at Royal Birkdale.

New Zealander Fox produced a performance for the ages to win the Claret Jug at Royal Birkdale, 24 hours after equaling the record for lowest round at a major championship. Fox held off challenges from Sam Burns and Cameron Young to win the first major championship of his career.

Fox had been a rank outsider going into the final major of the year, but held his nerve on the 72nd hole of the tournament to birdie and avoid a playoff with Young. The result was clearly not expected within the Burns household, with his family watching from home in New Zealand.

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Fox was able to share an emotional FaceTime with them after coming off the 18th green, and he elaborated on what he had told them.

"To Isobel and Margot, my two little ones, Dad's got a trophy for you," he said with glee after being handed the Claret Jug.

"I said it up there, my kids asked me to bring home a trophy for them, and this is about as cool a one as I can bring home, I think."

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Fox is a late bloomer in the sport, having only earned his PGA Tour card when he was 37 years old. And he explained that his wife had put in all the effort behind the scenes to allow him to pursue his dream.

"My wife, she sacrificed a lot for me to get to this point," he emotionally added.

"Yeah, just for all her support, everything she's gone through with the kids, staying at home, trying to travel with two young kids as well early on. Starting out on the PGA TOUR, that was really hard, and she's an absolute trooper.

"My family back in New Zealand and all my supporters back there, I know it's been a long night for them, but I'm glad it was worthwhile."

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Fox is well aware of his status as a latecomer to the golfing world, but insists he wouldn't swap his career for anything.

"Why it's a slow burn? I don't know. It took -- I was a rookie on the DP World Tour at 30. I was a rookie on the PGA TOUR at 37 and now a major champion at 39. I'm definitely not following the trend at the moment. But if I can keep getting better a little bit every year, I'll be pretty happy.

"I said it earlier; if you'd have given me my career up till yesterday when I first turned pro, I would have jumped at it. Now I probably would have killed people for it (laughter)."

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Source: “AOL Sports”