Ryan Fox denies Cameron Young, Sam Burns at The Open Championship as American golf takes another hit

Ryan Fox failed to birdie the easiest spread astatine Royal Birkdale portion trying to triumph The Open Championship. But, erstwhile it mattered most, helium birdied the hardest spread connected the people to seizure the Claret Jug.

Tied with clubhouse person Cameron Young astatine 9-under, the 39-year-old New Zealander needed a birdie connected No. 18 to triumph the tourney aft failing to birdie the par-5 17th hole.

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After pounding his thrust down the last fairway, Fox deed his attack to conscionable wrong 12 feet and past dripped his birdie putt into the borderline of the cupful to triumph the 154th Open Championship astatine Royal Birkdale. He finished astatine 10-under, 1 changeable up of Young and 2 wide of 54-hole person Sam Burns.

Ryan Fox celebrates aft making birdie connected 18 to triumph The 154th Open Championship astatine Royal Birkdale. (Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images)

But his triumph mightiness mean much for planetary play than thing else.

Entering the last round, everyone astatine Royal Birkdale was chasing American Sam Burns, who was searching for his archetypal large title victory.

Burns, astatine 10-under, led Fox and South Korea's Si Woo Kim by 2 shots. American Ryan Gerard and Australian Lucas Herbert were 3 shots back, portion large names similar Bryson DeChambeau, Scottie Scheffler and Ludvig Åberg sat respective shots backmost but were lurking.

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Burns earned that vantage with 1 of the champion two-round stretches successful large title history.

After opening the tourney with a three-over 73, Burns tied the men’s large grounds with an eight-under 62 connected Friday. He followed that with a five-under 65 successful the 3rd round, giving him a 127 full implicit 36 holes, the lowest people crossed consecutive rounds successful men’s large title history.

And Burns wasn’t unsocial successful going historically low.

Herbert besides changeable 62 connected Friday, portion Fox matched the fig connected Saturday to rocket 50 spots up the leaderboard and gain a spot alongside Burns successful Sunday’s last pairing. Three players had tied the large title scoring grounds implicit a span of 2 days astatine Royal Birkdale.

Burns besides knew amended than astir however rapidly a promising major-championship Sunday could crook into heartbreak.

Sam Burns came adjacent again, but fell conscionable abbreviated astatine different large championship. (David Davies/PA Images)

He held the 54-hole pb astatine the 2025 U.S. Open astatine Oakmont earlier shooting a final-round 78 and falling into a necktie for seventh. One twelvemonth later, Burns astir completed a furious Sunday comeback astatine Shinnecock Hills, but his birdie putt connected the 72nd spread stopped inches abbreviated and near him 1 changeable down eventual champion Wyndham Clark.

Now, Burns had different opportunity.

And helium initially appeared acceptable to instrumentality power of the tournament.

The 29-year-old American birdied the 2nd spread to scope 11-under and widen his advantage.

Then everything changed.

Burns made 3 consecutive bogeys astatine Nos. 4, 5 and 6, coughing up his full pb successful a span of 3 holes. The subordinate who began Sunday with a two-shot pb abruptly recovered himself scrambling to stay successful contention.

And portion Burns stumbled, different American came charging from the mediate of the pack.

Cam Young, similar Burns, was already acquainted with large title heartbreak. He finished 1 changeable down Cameron Smith astatine the 2022 Open Championship contempt shooting a final-round 65 and making eagle connected the 72nd hole.

Young began the last circular 7 shots disconnected the lead, seemingly retired of contention, but instantly turned himself into a origin with a spectacular front-nine 29. He made 4 birdies implicit his archetypal 5 holes and yet reached 10-under with different birdie astatine the 17th.

Then came trouble.

Young drove into a fairway bunker connected the last spread and failed to wide its steep look with his 2nd shot. He yet escaped with a bogey, but inactive posted an unthinkable six-under 64 to instrumentality the clubhouse pb astatine nine-under.

But past Ryan Fox came charging.

Fox birdied the 13th and 14th holes to drawback Young astatine nine-under. The New Zealander caught a unspeakable interruption with his tee changeable astatine the recently redesigned par-3 15th and couldn’t prevention par. However, helium bounced close backmost with a birdie astatine No. 16 to necktie Young again.

Young recovered himself successful the unenviable presumption of sitting astir and conscionable waiting to spot if his people was bully enough.

Cameron Young and his caddie, Kyle Sterbinsky, look connected during the last circular of The Open Championship astatine Royal Birkdale. (Tracy Wilcox/PGA TOUR)

Fox caught different atrocious interruption connected the par-5 17th hole. He elected to deed an robust disconnected the tee to debar the fairway bunkers, but his shot managed to creep into 1 of those bunkers aft rolling retired to implicit 320 yards. He inactive managed to springiness himself a bully birdie look, but missed to enactment tied.

Burns besides failed to marque birdie connected No. 17, the spread that played the easiest during Sunday's last round. That meant that Fox was tied with Young and Burns was 1 changeable backmost with the hardest spread connected the course, the par-4 18th, looming.

Fox made it look thing but difficult, blasting his tee changeable down the mediate of the fairway earlier sticking an robust to wrong 12 feet and giving himself a birdie putt to triumph the Open.

Burns played the spread well, too, but not good enough. His attack came to remainder conscionable wrong 30 feet from the cupful and the American couldn't convert, adding different adjacent telephone to his large title résumé.

That acceptable the signifier for Fox. Make the putt, triumph The Open. Miss and spell to a playoff against Cam Young.

And helium buried it to present different heartbreak for Young and different heartbreak to American golf.

Because Sunday’s last circular was astir overmuch much than whether Burns, Young oregon different contender would locomotion distant with the Claret Jug.

It was besides astir whether American play had genuinely started to instrumentality backmost power of the sport.

Not agelong ago, that power appeared absolute.

Beginning with Brooks Koepka’s triumph astatine the 2023 PGA Championship, Americans won 7 consecutive men’s majors. Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Bryson DeChambeau each followed Koepka during a tally that ended with Schauffele completing an American expanse of the 2024 majors astatine Royal Troon.

Rory McIlroy yet ended the streak with his melodramatic breakthrough astatine the 2025 Masters.

Even then, it hardly felt similar the equilibrium of powerfulness had changed.

Scheffler won the PGA Championship astatine Quail Hollow. J.J. Spaun captured the U.S. Open astatine Oakmont. Scheffler past dominated The Open astatine Royal Portrush.

Americans had won 10 of 11 large championships.

It wasn’t a rivalry astatine that point. It was domination.

Then the tide turned.

Tommy Fleetwood yet earned his archetypal PGA Tour triumph by winning the 2025 Tour Championship and FedEx Cup.

One period later, Europe embarrassed the United States connected American ungraded astatine the Ryder Cup.

The last score, 15-13, made the contention look acold person than it really was. Europe entered Sunday singles with an 11½-4½ vantage and had already reduced the last league to small much than a hopeless American effort to debar implicit humiliation.

European players observe with the trophy aft winning the 2025 Ryder Cup astatine Bethpage Black. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Things didn’t amended erstwhile the calendar flipped to 2026.

McIlroy successfully defended his Masters title, and England’s Aaron Rai followed with his archetypal large title triumph astatine the PGA Championship. European golfers had won the archetypal 2 majors of the year.

Wyndham Clark yet stopped the bleeding by winning his 2nd U.S. Open astatine Shinnecock Hills.

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An American triumph astatine Royal Birkdale would springiness U.S. golfers the last 2 large championships of the play and supply existent grounds that the momentum had begun shifting back.

A non-American triumph would permission Clark arsenic the lone U.S. large champion of 2026, marking the archetypal clip since 2014 that Americans won conscionable 1 of the 4 men’s majors.

And the second is what happened erstwhile Ryan Fox became conscionable the 2nd New Zealander to triumph The Open and the 3rd New Zealander to triumph a men’s large play championship.

Clark’s U.S. Open triumph stands arsenic the lone American large title triumph of the season, the archetypal clip since 2014 that American men failed to triumph astatine slightest 2 large tournaments.

Europe embarrassed the United States astatine Bethpage. Fleetwood took the FedEx Cup. European players captured the Masters and PGA Championship. And a non-American ended the play by lifting the Claret Jug astatine Royal Birkdale.

It added up to the roughest large title play for American play successful 12 years.

And the adjacent Ryder Cup is being played astatine Adare Manor successful Ireland, wherever the United States volition effort to triumph connected European ungraded for the archetypal clip since 1993.

Based connected the past year, there’s small crushed to judge that drought is astir to end.