A Long-hitting Longshot Wins The British Open

It only made sense that a wild week at the 2026 Open Championship ended with a wild finish, and an unlikely winner. That would be Ryan Fox, a 39-year-old New Zealander who was as much as a 200-to-1 long shot ahead of the tournament, in large part because he'd never even had a top 15 finish in 30 previous major starts. But the long hitter put together one of the most clutch finishes in major championship history at Royal Birkdale, capped by a walk-off winning birdie putt on the final hole. Fox was an absolute dog down the stretch, even overcoming a pair of brutal breaks over the last four holes. But having the toughness to come out of that scrum shouldn't surprise us considering his dad Grant is a New Zealand rugby legend. Fox's final birdie ended Cameron Young's chance of winning his first major. The 29-year-old American shot Sunday's best score with a 64, despite a bogey on 18 that came more than two hours before Fox got there. Just a crazy finish. But adding to the craziness, it seems Fox wound up sitting directly behind Young on a flight the following morning, with the clear jugged right above them in the overhead compartment. Poor Cam. Talk about an all-time bad travel break. Of course, I also have to mention the all-time crazy and controversial two-stroke penalty on Bryson DeChambeau at the end of the second round that became the talk of the entire tournament. If we learned anything from that, it's that you should be extra careful walking around your golf ball on high road. Oh, and that Bryson and Rory McIlroy will definitely not be exchanging Christmas cards anytime soon. Anyway, back to Fox. Golf fans learned plenty from him as well, especially that you can play great golf while playing quickly. He stroked that final putt faster than you could say champion golfer of the year. But now, we're guessing Fox will take his time celebrating with a certain piece of precious cargo.