TELFER’S TAKE 20.7.26

According to Ryan Fox’s long-time caddie, Dean Smith, “Ryan is probably the fastest golfer in the world”. After his dramatic, come-from-behind win to claim the Open Championship, Foxy can rightly be described now as one of the world’s best golfers as well.

Commentators were simply left aghast at the magnificence of Ryan Fox’s win. Words like

“unbelievable”, “extraordinary” and “one of the most remarkable victories in the long history of this Championship” were being showered on not one of their own, but a humble likeable bloke from the Antipodes.

It was all very dramatic, but in reality, it was just another example of Ryan Fox going about his work quietly, his name well down the scoreboard through the first two rounds. Then on Day 3, Saturday, the day they call moving day in the golfing lexicon, things did change dramatically for Ryan and the rest of the field. Boy did Foxy move, reeling off 9 birdies on his way to a 62 which saw him jump from 54th place to 2nd , now a mere 2 shots behind leader Sam Burns.

It was just the 8th time in Major Championship golf that a player had shot a 62, the lowest ever recorded score in a Major. That 3rd round 8-under par 62 set him up superbly to have an all-out shot at winning the Open Championship on Day 4 and that he did. Just like his father Grant, who would frequently show on the rugby field all those years ago, that when the going got tough, Grant got going. Dragging his fellow players with him appears a trait he passed down to his son Ryan.

It was Ryan’s 19th win as a pro and many of them, especially notable ones, have come with a charge over the closing holes. Remember that long chip-in he pulled off in a play-off to win the Myrtle Beach Classic last year, his first win on the USPGA Tour. A month later, in yet another play-off hole for the Canadian Open, he played what he called the best shot of his career, a 3-wood which he smashed well over 200 metres onto the green, leaving him with two putts from 5 metres to claim the Canadian title.

At Birkdale, midway through the back nine on the last day, he was back in about 5th place but still trailing some of the game’s big names. With 6 holes to play, he got to work. At this point he was 2 shots behind the clubhouse leader, Cameron Young, who shot the lowest round of the day, a 6-under 64. Foxy started his charge with birdies on 13 and 14, then a little hiccup saw him make bogey on 15 which meant that now he had to birdie 2 of the last 3 holes to win the title outright. In the best traditions of his father, he did just that. His birdie 3 on the 18th , a difficult par 4 measuring 420 metres, was the stuff of legends. It had a touch of Tiger Woods’ mastery. The fairway, for example,

on this hole was only 15 metres wide in parts and the hole has 7 bunkers in all. Wisely Foxy took what looked like a 3-wood rather than a driver off the tee, hoping to keep it on the fairway which he did. It left him around 160 metres to the pin, dangerously placed near one of those strategically positioned bunkers guarding the green. It was playing as the hardest hole on the last day, but Foxy had no thoughts of just plonking the ball in the middle of the green, taking his 2 putts and finishing 2nd . It was for him, as our cobbers across the ditch like to say, “Sydney or the bush”.

Without any fuss or delay he flushed a 9-iron straight at the flag. The massive crowd around the 18th hole saw the ball coming down on the green heading straight for the flag and held their collective breath, knowing the ball could easily roll off the green to the right. They needn’t have worried as it landed and trickled up to 11 feet (3½ metres) from the hole. The commentators, somewhat dumbfounded that anyone would dare try and get the ball that close to the hole, tried to digest what they’d just seen, but their voices betrayed them. Such bravery or was it unnecessary foolhardiness? It was probably neither, just Foxy having complete faith in his ability to execute the exact shot he wanted. It was golf as symmetrical beauty for which it would soon reward its architect.

Now Foxy, the speed freak, kicked into action. He watched his playing partner, Sam Burns, putt out, then according to the Golf Channel analysts, Foxy took just 22 seconds from the time Burns picked his ball out of the hole until Foxy picked up his. In that time he weighed up the putt, with a quick look right, a quick look left, took his grip and stance and then just putted the thing and watched it roll into the hole and victory. I can think of quite a few of the world’s leading golfers who would have taken minutes, 3 or 4 at least, to weigh up all the potential factors that could be at work for such a crucial putt. Then there would be a consultation with their caddie, followed by a final review from the notebook with all the hole and green details, then a long mental adjustment until they were truly ready in mind and body before putting.

There to watch his Kiwi mate win this big event was Aussie Min Woo Lee who said the speed Ryan plays is something we can all learn from. “Whenever a fast player wins, it’s the greatest thing ever.”

Rather lost in the size of Ryan’s achievement was the highly admirable showing of fellow Kiwi Kazuma Kobori who had a final round of 72, 2 over par for a share of 28th place. Not bad for a kid barely out of the rookie class. I wouldn’t mind betting that young Kazuma from Rangiora might just be the next Kiwi golfer to lift the Old Jug.