{"id":551453,"date":"2026-07-21T01:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T01:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/551453\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T01:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T01:01:08","slug":"golf-sporting-legacy-and-speed-key-to-kiwi-ryan-foxs-victory-at-the-open-championship-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/551453\/","title":{"rendered":"Golf: Sporting legacy and speed key to Kiwi Ryan Fox\u2019s victory at the Open Championship 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

When thought of in the context of the iconic fable \u201cThe Tortoise and the Hare\u201d, golf<\/a> is often a game that lends itself to the tortoise philosophy. Many embrace a methodical approach to the sport, studying each hole for minutes and using data-driven tools to select the right club for every situation. In this context, New Zealand\u2019s Ryan Fox<\/a> might as well be Usain Bolt<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The largely unheralded Kiwi impressed onlookers at the 154th edition of the Open Championship\u00a0at the Royal Birkdale Golf Club in England, sinking an all-important birdie on the 18th hole a mere 22 seconds after groupmate\u00a0Sam Burns had retrieved his ball from the hole, securing his first major title<\/a> without giving golf\u2019s faithful much time to process the moment.<\/p>\n

And that was hardly the first time Fox\u2019s speed and style of play turned heads at Royal\u00a0Birkdale. Tied for 52nd after 36 holes, Fox delivered a speedy and precise third round, going eight under par \u2013 gaining 51 positions in the process \u2013 to rocket up the leaderboard into a tie for first place. That round ultimately put him on the radar of many golf fans, who praised his pace of play.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But none of what transpired at Royal\u00a0Birkdale came as a shock to Fox\u2019s caddie, Dean Smith. \u201cHe’s probably the fastest player in the world,\u201d he told the PGA Tour<\/a>. His words were backed up a comment once made by Olympic champion\u00a0Scottie Scheffler<\/a>, who told Fox: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t even feel like you\u2019re in the group. It just feels like we\u2019re playing in a two-ball; you hit so fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fox still isn’t sure whether that was meant as a compliment or subtle dig, but admits there\u2019s a certain simplicity to his playing style that emphasises speed and confidence. \u201cI was never methodical at anything, to be honest,\u201d the Southern Hemisphere golfer told the\u00a0PGA. \u201cThe less time I have to think about it, the less bad stuff can creep in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not that difficult to pick a shot and pick a club,\u201d he added, explaining his approach more in\u00a0remarks to The Athletic<\/a>. \u201cYou only really need to concentrate properly for 30 seconds or a minute before hitting a shot, and then you can switch off again \u2013 that\u2019s the strategy I\u2019ve had going pretty much my whole golf career.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When thought of in the context of the iconic fable \u201cThe Tortoise and the Hare\u201d, golf is often…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-551453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}