In the 5 seconds it took for Ryan Fox’s ball to roll the 11 feet from his putting blade to the bottom of the hole on the final green at Royal Birkdale, his life changed forever. In the space of those 5 seconds he went from golf hero to folk hero, honoured and praised globally not just for winning probably the most cherished prize in golf, the Open Championship, but also for the way he conquered that final demanding hole, a 473-yard par 4 playing as the most difficult of holes at Birkdale on that Sunday. He knew he had to make birdie on that hole to win the title and so, as they say in sport, “He went for it”. Only 3 golfers from the field of 70-odd before him were able to birdie that hole during the final round. Not even the knowledge that the fairway at some stages was only 15 yards wide could deter the ambitious Kiwi. He slammed his tee 330 yards right down the centre of the fairway, then floated a beautiful 9 iron to within 11 feet of the hole. It left the commentators and the huge crowd seated around the green speechless. Then once the magnificence of his golf had been realised by one and all, cheers erupted long and hard around this amphitheatre as Foxy marched confidently onto the green to address his putt and the rest as we know is history. Somewhat lost in the riotous celebrations that followed that successful putt was the huge list of benefits that he’s accrued. Ryan, in his typical low-key fashion, rather dismissed the $5.5million in prizemoney as a bit of an afterthought. But I guess when you’ve won the best part of $20million in winnings in less than 2 years on the US Tour, you can kind of understand his reaction. What I’m sure means as much, if not more, as the money are the exemptions he’s acquired, like a 5-year entry to all of the Majors which should help keep his ranking comfortably inside the top 50 on the World Ranking list. His win saw his ranking jump from 56 to 22. That also pretty much guarantees him a place in the FedEx Cup final which is restricted to just the top 30 golfers. The Open championship is of course also part of the DP World Tour, so his win last week would also, I think, guarantee him a place in the Race to Dubai season finale in November. His elevated status now on the USPGA Tour should free him up to return to NZ next year, if he so wishes, to play the NZ Open, scheduled again for Queenstown early in 2027. Can you imagine the crowd numbers which would flock to that event to see the current Open Champion, a Kiwi, playing in his national Open? Many other benefits will flow his way as well. Sponsors, club and ball manufacturers, clothing giants and goodness knows who else will be lining up to have their products attached to the name of this eminently sensible and likeable fellow. An indication of the tailspin his life has quickly gone into following his win was his decision to jump on a plane with his family and fly back to NZ for a couple of weeks to escape the mania that has surrounded him in the States. Meanwhile life continues apace on the PGA Tour and today produced another sensation when a 21- year-old American, Jackson Koivun, who has only been a professional for 24 days, yes 24 days, withstood a blistering weekend blitz from Scottie Scheffler to win the 3M Open by 3 shots. Scheffler played the last 2 rounds 15 under par with a 64 and 63 but still came up short by 3 shots to the young rookie who held his nerve to go 61 and 66 to match the world’s number 1, stroke for stroke, over his last 36 holes. An amazing feat. Koivun had been the world’s number 1 ranked amateur for the last 56 weeks prior to turning professional. Now we’re all left wondering how long it will be before he becomes the game’s number 1 golfer.

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.

Form is temporary, it is said, but class is permanent. In recent weeks our two top golfers have served to remind us of the underlying truth of that old saying. It’s been a lean few weeks for a number of our top golfers, but last week Lydia Ko and Ryan Fox showed their class when playing against the world’s best. Lydia lined up in France for the 4th Women’s Major Championship of the year, the Evian Championship, a title she won a couple of years back to give her a third Major title and then of course she followed up a couple of weeks later with a win in the Open Championship. But for the last couple of seasons, since those wins at the end of 2024, Lydia’s Major’s form has been poor. Going into the Evian last week she’d missed the cut in 3 of her last 5 Majors, without doubt the worst run she’s had in Majors in her 14 years as a professional golfer. However her form at Evian put to rest any suggestion that she was well past her best - 4 rounds under par, all 4 rounds in the 60’s and a final round of 64, 7 under par the lowest round of the final day. That was classic Lydia. In the end her 13 under total for the tournament didn’t really get her close to the title, but finishing in 7th place was a very rewarding outing for Lydia. Hopefully she can take that form with her back across the English Channel and into the final women’s Major of the year, the Open Championship at Royal Lytham and St Annes in Lancashire starting 30 July, on the course where Bob Charles won his British Open in 1963. And just to put things into perspective, that 7 th place last week was Lydia’s 18 th top 10 finish in a Major. Now this week Ryan Fox will be seeking his first top 10 finish in a Major when he lines up for the men’s final Major of 2026, the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. It’s fair to say Ryan hasn’t enjoyed the level of success on the USPGA Tour this year that he did in 2025, highlighted by those two victories mid-year coming within the space of 5 weeks. But what he has achieved this year is consistency. From 15 starts he’s made the cut in all but two of those events. Sure, his stats have been made to look better this year because he’s been eligible to play in all 8 of the rich Signature events, some of which don’t have a cut. Nonetheless, not only has he made the cut in nearly 90% of the events he’s played in, but he’s recorded 7 top 25 placings along with a 30th place finish in last week’s Scottish Open. This was a very strong field because it now forms part of both the DP World Tour and the USPGA Tour. Effectively he was lining up against the best of Europe. Two other Kiwis, Daniel Hillier and Kazuma Kobori, will also play at Royal Birkdale. These two, however, will be looking for a change of fortunes with their games. Hillier has now missed the cut in his last couple of events and while Kobori has fared better, he too has had to grapple with form lapses in recent weeks. With three Kiwis in the field, a rare but not unprecedented situation, there will be plenty of golf fans back here glued to the four days of live coverage of the Open on Sky, even if it seems likely the Open will be competing with concluding stages of a certain “soccer” event taking place on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Visit Us For Golf Club Repairs, Fittings and Coaching at JK's World Of Golf, Auckland. Email us info@jksworldofgolf.co.nz or Call 0800 557 6853. COACHING Have your very own coaching session in a private bay with one of our pros - Scott Lowery, and Richard Lee. Bookings are made directly through the coaches - see below for more details. Richard (RLee) started playing golf at the age of 12 and quickly grew to love the game. As an amateur he represented Auckland and New Zealand before going on the win the New Zealand Amateur Championship defeating Michael Campbell in the final. In 1994 he turned pro joining the NZPGA and spent the next 22 years playing abroad on the Australasian, Japanese and Asian Tours. He has also competed in over 50 European Tour events. Career highlights: - 2003 Vanuatu Open champion - 2005 Thailand Open champion - 2007 World Cup team member Royal Melbourne course record 62 (-10) - 2 time winner of New Zealand order of merit - First New Zealander to shoot 59 in a tournament Now with a young family Richard has taken a step back from professional golf and has joined the team at JK’s World of Golf where he plans to teach people this wonderful game. Check out his website for bookings WWW.RLEEGOLf.NZ Richard Lee rleegolf@gmail.com Scott works full time at JK's World of Golf, which is very handy when getting fitted and choosing equipment and clubs. To book a lesson with Scott, get in touch or ask when you next have a hit at the range. TESTIMONIAL 'Scott Lowery is a practical and professional teacher. His humour and unending patience combined with his ability to explain things have definitely helped lift my game. I took up golf later than most and am no natural athlete, but with Scott's expert help and guidance my scores have come down and my enjoyment of the game has risen'. - Lyn Scott Lowery 027 273 2606 scott.l@xtra.co.nz

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Visit Us At Our Driving Range, And Pro Golf Shop, Plus We Offer Golf Club Repairs, Fittings and Coaching at JK's World Of Golf, Auckland. Email us info@jksworldofgolf.co.nz or Call 0800 557 6853. CONTACT US Our range and shop are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week including including public holidays. Please note: During busy times and late nights our staff may be unable to assist your needs and give in depth advice about products sold in the shop. The best time to get the best advice is during standard business hours. For club fittings and professional help, please contact us below and book in a session. Location 10 Nixon Rd, Auckland Airport Auckland 2022, New Zealand Email Address info@jksworldofgolf.co.nz Phone 0800 557 4653 +64 9 275 6080 Socials Facebook Instagram Tripadvisor Contact us First name Last name Email* Message* Submit If coming from South - turn right down at the second roundabout on to Nixon Rd. If coming from North - turn left into Nixon Rd off George Bolt Memorial Drive. Note: There is no longer access from Uenuku Way. DIRECTIONS