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The 39-year-old finished four gruelling rounds at 10-under par, with a birdie on the final hole securing the Claret Jug and a winner\u2019s cheque of US$3.2 million (A$4.57 million).<\/p>\n
His incredible triumph had been building throughout the week, highlighted by a third-round 62 that equalled the lowest round ever recorded in a men\u2019s major championship. Australian Lucas Herbert and American Sam Burns have also achieved the feat at The Open Championship.<\/p>\n
Fox, known for his fast-paced style of play \u2013 needing just 22 seconds to hole the winning 12-foot putt \u2013 has since become just as well known for the celebrations that followed his maiden major championship victory.<\/p>\n
SOUTHPORT, ENGLAND – JULY 19: Ryan Fox of New Zealand celebrates victory on the 18th green on day four of the The 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale on July 19, 2026 in Southport, England. (Photo by Andrew Redington\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Speaking on The Pat McAfee Show, Fox revealed just how wild the celebrations became.<\/p>\n
\u201cI jumped the gun a little bit. It (the Claret Jug) got filled a little bit too early and then I had to take more official photos, and it all got tipped out.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe finished up about 3am. on Monday morning and I had a car picking me up at 4.15am.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s safe to say I didn\u2019t have any sleep before going to the airport and heading back home.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019ve even had my five-year-old daughter ask me, \u2018Is there any wine in the Claret Jug?\u2019 So she gets it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sport runs deep in Fox\u2019s family. He is the son of New Zealand All Blacks legend Grant Fox and the grandson of former New Zealand cricketer Merv Wallace.<\/p>\n
Grant has played a significant role in his golfing journey, caddying for his son throughout his amateur career and even at stages during his professional career.<\/p>\n
When asked about speaking with his family after the victory, Fox admitted his normally composed father was anything but calm.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you probably saw the conversation in the little room afterwards, the holding room or whatever it was. I got to call my wife and kids and also mum and dad,\u201d Fox said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Dad was pretty lost for words, which doesn\u2019t happen very much for him to be honest.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he would\u2019ve been a nervous wreck.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was always renowned as cool and calm under pressure. Obviously, goalkicking to try to win games and stuff, you have to be able to deal with pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut when he wasn\u2019t in control, he\u2019s pretty terrible with stuff. So, I imagine he was pacing around the living room, just not knowing what to think coming down those last few holes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of would\u2019ve liked to have been a fly on the wall to see how that played out back home in New Zealand.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe gave up a lot. He used to caddie for me when I was playing amateur golf and even into my professional career.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was always there. There was never any pressure to carry on in his footsteps or play rugby.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fox also shared with McAfee and his predominantly American audience a famous rugby tradition he now hopes to recreate with his father.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to taking this little trophy home behind me and sharing a little drink out of it with him,\u201d Fox said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a tradition in rugby with something called the Bledisloe Cup between New Zealand and Australia. Apparently, it fits 42 beers in it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was always a tradition \u2013 to drink beers out of the Bledisloe Cup if you won it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been lucky enough to do it with the current All Blacks team last year back in New Zealand.<\/p>\n
Herbert falls short despite wonder shot | 19:09<\/p>\n
\u201cSo yeah, I think it\u2019s tradition to drink something out of the Claret Jug… and it probably should be claret, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n
McAfee also quizzed Fox about his unconventional golf swing, with the Kiwi revealing the amusing reason behind the technique that has now made him a major champion.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you please tell me about this? I read your story. You didn\u2019t start golfing until you were 18, I believe. Then when you were 24, I think, is whenever you became a pro,\u201d McAfee said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut your swing \u2013 and this is crazy for me to say because you are 2,000 times better than me as a golfer \u2013 everything you do is what they told me was wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything you do, you emphasise even more than I do.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re winning majors with it, and I\u2019m being told I need to get off golf courses. Can you tell me a little bit about your swing? How did we get here?\u201d<\/p>\n
For Fox, it has always been about function over form, with the New Zealander saying he has never worried about having a textbook swing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do have a coach, believe me, but it\u2019s always been function over form. If the body moves right, I don\u2019t really care what it looks like,\u201d Fox said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t look great, but the ball goes where I want it to go most of the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had a dodgy left ankle. That\u2019s why my left ankle is way flat out. I\u2019ve got very little rotation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m an ex-rugby player. I\u2019ve still got a rugby player\u2019s body, basically. Nothing moves how it should move compared to most of my peers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Open Championship triumph was Fox\u2019s first victory of the 2026 season after making the cut in 14 of his 16 PGA Tour starts.<\/p>\n
It was the third PGA Tour title of his career and, across 94 PGA Tour events, Fox has now earned more than US$12.47 million in prize money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ryan Fox made history at The Open Championship when he became just the second New Zealander to win…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":815937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":["post-815936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}