Tranlate this title Ryan Fox, British Open champion with a putt in spanish

It was about three and a half meters to the flag. But it was also the distance to one of those victories that justify a sporting career. It was the difference between achieving his goal after eleven years of searching in the majors. Eleven years in which winning a Grand Slam tournament was perhaps never a realistic possibility.

But Ryan Fox created it for himself on Saturday. He did it with magic, with a round of 62 strokes to equal the best rounds in major history and to make it clear that, although he might have been an underdog, he had all the ingredients to make a big splash. This Sunday, lying in wait, he only revealed his full force when it mattered most: four birdies (despite a bogey) in the last six holes and a birdie-birdie finish made Fox the British Open champion.

Ryan Fox, results

At thirty-nine years old, the New Zealander, a golf workhorse, has made his mark among the greats. All this unfolded on a nerve-wracking day at Royal Birkdale, in a nail-biting battle for the Claret Jug, a battle Jon Rahm was unable to contest. With a score of -10, Fox surpassed Cameron Young’s -9, Sam Burns’ -8, and Scottie Scheffler and Tommy Fleetwood’s -7 to claim the British Open title. Rahm, after a very difficult day, finished tied for 46th at even par, the same position achieved by Josele Ballester and Eugenio López-Chacarra.

The three Spanish players couldn’t have added more excitement to the day. Rahm had a very tough round with three birdies, three bogeys, and two double bogeys after being ruled out of contention for the win following a disastrous tee shot on the first hole, where he went out of bounds. Thus, he finished tied with Ballester, who had a difficult day with two birdies, three bogeys, and a double bogey, and with Chacarra, who had two birdies and a bogey at the end.

But the dose of drama at Royal Birkdale has been complete. It was a major, the tournament of tournaments for the three men who remained in contention for the title in the final stages: Fox, Young, and Burns. With Young posting a spectacular 6-under-par round that gave him a 9-under-par total, Burns has plummeted from the lead (he started with a two-stroke advantage over his rivals and finished the day with a 2-under-par round), while Fox has remained poised, consistent, waiting for his moment.

With five birdies and three bogeys on the day, he’s been steadily closing the gap. At times he’s one stroke behind the leader, Burns, at others two. Only after the 5th hole did he draw level with Burns at 9-under-par, only to immediately suffer a bogey that forced him to fight back. He drew level with Young again after his 14th hole, pulled away on the 15th, clung to the fight on the 16th and 17th with the tie, and reached the 18th in his own hands to become the British Open champion, as the American was already waiting at 9-under-par in the clubhouse, and Sam Burns, at 8-under-par, couldn’t catch him if he made a final birdie.