Fox steals it at the death with massive birdie

Ryan Fox of New Zealand drained a 12-foot birdie on the final hole to win The Open Championship for his first major title.

Fox closed with a 2-under 68 for a 10-under 270 total and win the title by one stroke.

Four players had a share of the lead at various stages in the final round. Cameron Young was atop the leaderboard for two hours without hitting a shot because he finished his astonishing 6-under 64 when the leaders were still on the front nine.

Fox was struggling with a pair of bogeys on the back nine but birdied the 16th to tie Young for the lead, and then made birdie on the toughest hole to become the third Kiwi to win a major.

It was his third PGA Tour title and first major championship after failing to finish in the top 10 of any of his previous 28 major championship starts.

He is also the second New Zealander to win The Open Championship since Bob Charles was back in 1963.

World No. 56 becomes the lowest-ranked winner of The Open since Darren Clarke in 2011 and now moves up to 22nd in the rankings list.

The win looked improbable after he opened with a 72 in the first round and was T85, seven strokes behind the lead. He followed it up with a 68 and a record 62 third round to move into contention.

He was the second player to record a 62 in a major championship and win after Xander Schauffele at the PGA Championship two years ago.

Four different countries are represented among the four major winners this season, marking the second time since 2010. The other major winners this year were Rory McIlroy/Masters Tournament/Northern Ireland; Aaron Rai/PGA Championship/England and Wyndham Clark/U.S. Open/United States.

Starting the final round at T20, seven strokes behind Sam Burns, reigning Players Championship winner Cameron Young recorded the round of the day with a 64 and earned his eighth runner-up finish on Tour and second at The Open Championship (2022).

Sam Burns finished third with a 8-under total for his second top-three finish in a major championship this season after the US Open.

World No. 1 and 20-time Tour winner Scheffler finished T4 (-7) in his bid to become the first player to successfully defend the title came undone.

Final Leaderboard