British Open Showdown: Ryan Fox's Thrilling Finish

Then with Cam at nine under we start to rule guys out. So Scotty, he's eight under on the 18th tee, makes bogey, finishes a seven under. Tommy Fleetwood made an amazing push on Sunday. The support this entire week there sounded incredible. Jordan Spieth was talking about saying this was like a mini Ryder Cup just for Tommy Fleetwood. He walks up the 18th fairway with tears in his eyes, but he too ultimately finishes a seven under. Bryson DeChambeau triples the 11th hole. That effectively rules him out. He finishes a four under. And then nobody in those third or second to last groups had a realistic chance standing on 18 tee. Like Seawood would have had to hole out his approach just to get to nine under. So it comes out of the final group. Sam Burns a shot off the lead eight under. Ryan Fox at nine under. And just take us through each of the three shots Ryan Fox hit on 18, because as you noted at the top of the show, this hole played the most difficult at Royal Birkdale for the entire week and was on Sunday the second most difficult hole. So this is like there were not a ton of birdies to be had. Yeah. Honestly, I definitely want to get into 18, but I think it needs to start at 13. I think 13 is where all of this begins, because the 13th hole was a decision that had to be made off the tee. If you want to win the golf tournament and you're ready to play aggressive, you hit driver on that hole. Ryan Fox hits driver on that hole, ends up making a birdie with a wedge in. Now, I watched, let's see, who was it? Seawood Kim hit iron off that tee and had 215 yards in. Ryan Gerard hit driver, had 98 yards in. We're talking about 113 yard difference. And just the fact that there was multiple players that down the stretch hit driver on 13, I just felt like that was a time and a place to play aggressively if you were in the golf tournament. So I love that Foxy did that. 14, you know, I'm watching all this from behind, your group in front. So I'm, all this is, you know, not quite as fresh as like what I watched in the groups I was with, but I saw they made birdie on 14. And then 15, I heard that his ball got stuck up against the lip and then ended up making a good bogey, considering the bad break. 16 still was the most undertalked about amazing birdies. Everybody was, was struggling getting that, that second shot close. The reason why is that green sits up, it's elevated, rolls off both sides. It was the hardest hole location they use all week. It's tucked right on top of these two little penal bunkers, short and right that are just waiting for misfire. Really just, honestly, it goes back to that conversation we're talking about with the hold shots. You couldn't get it close to the hole. If you're trying to hit a straight shot, well, you could, but you're aiming eight yards, right? Like eight yards, right? Of the hole location, which is effectively three or four yards right of the green, which is not a comfortable feeling knowing you can't miss, right? So the fact that he was able to get up there, hit it pin high and then walk in a birdie, incredible. Now it didn't even birdie 17. So you're thinking like, okay, Ryan Fox, when he gets 18 tee, you know, he hit into that bunker yesterday, was able to, you know, muster something out of that bunker onto the green to try to make par. But I was thinking in my head, like he's about to bogey this and lose, right? Like that just felt like he was going to hit into one of these bunkers again. It was going to be the same situation. He was going to chunk it out. He's going to have to make a 10 footer. And that's hard to do, you know, when everything's on the line versus like everything to gain. Once he hit that fairway, it's like, you know what? It's just a nine iron. I'm a, I'm a fader of the golf ball. It's time to play aggressive. And I loved that mentality that he, that he had because he even talked about it in his 62. He's like, I was here to play aggressive, trying to chase down history and hit probably the best drive of his wife. Incredible iron shot. And got to give him props on the plot. Cause I did not know what it was going to do. And totally miss it. I mean, I think that's all very well said. I think from just at home watching on TV, you're thinking, you know, of course he's going to hit driver there, but to have it run and skirt the bunker like that. And then you showed, you did such a great job of showing it on live from, as you're walking up to that green where that, like that false front on the right side, that runs in the fair or the green side bunker there to, to hit the nine iron on that line, have it cut. Oh my goodness. It would have been easy to play it out left. Absolutely. Easy to do that. Or if you take that line and you miss a little bit and you're in that green side bunker short sided, you know, there's no guarantee that you're gonna be able to stop that bunker shot and, and make a part to go to a playoff. So he really was out there to win. It was not trying to defend that lead and not trying to just to get into a playoff. But I think that was pretty admirable stuff.