Fox birdies 18th to pip Young, win Open Championship
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- Ryan Fox hit a 175-yard approach to 11½ feet and drained the birdie putt on the 72nd hole to finish at 10-under 270, one stroke clear of Cameron Young, becoming the third New Zealand male golfer to win a major after Bob Charles (1963 Open) and Michael Campbell (2005 U.S. Open).
- Fox matched the lowest round in major championship history with a 62 on Saturday and entered the final round at 170-1 odds per DK Sports, birdieing three of four holes on the back nine to card a 2-under 68.
- Cameron Young shot a 6-under 64 final round to set the clubhouse lead at 9 under, but his 319-yard drive on the 18th landed in a fairway bunker, his recovery hit the lip, and his third shot rolled back into a greenside bunker for a bogey.
- Sam Burns started the final round with a two-stroke lead but made three consecutive bogeys on holes 4-6 — including a tee shot into a creek on No. 6 — to slip to third at 8 under.
- World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler birdied three of his first five holes to reach 8 under but hit his drive on the 18th into native grass, missed a putt up the hill, and bogeyed to finish tied for fourth at 7 under.
- Si Woo Kim, bidding to become the first Asian-born golfer to win the Claret Jug, held the lead at 10 under through the turn before bogeys on Nos. 11, 12, and 16 dropped him into a tie for sixth at 6 under.
- Bryson DeChambeau, whose controversial two-stroke penalty after the second round was called "the biggest story of The Open" by the source, started four strokes back and carded a triple bogey on the 11th.
Why it matters: Fox becomes New Zealand's third male major winner — a 22-year gap since Campbell's 2005 U.S. Open — and is the first major champion since entering Round 1 at 170-1 odds. Young's bogey at the toughest closing hole at Birkdale, where he hit two shots from bunkers, handed Fox the Claret Jug despite Burns and Scheffler both reaching 8 under at various points.
