Ryan Fox's Claret Jug moment turns into a cross-world flight with his rival

Ryan Fox is officially the Champion Golfer of the Year, and the internet has not stopped celebrating since. The 39-year-old Kiwi drained a birdie on the 72nd hole at Royal Birkdale to win The Open Championship, edging Cameron Young for his first career major and becoming just the third New Zealander ever to win a men's major title. It's the kind of career-defining moment that gets replayed for decades, and Fox's press tour since has been a full victory lap.

Fore Play

@ForePlayPod

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the CHAMPION GOLFER OF THE YEAR, RYAN FOX 🏆

The finish itself was the stuff of major championship lore. Young had already posted a blistering 6-under 64 hours earlier to force the issue, leaving Fox needing something special on the last hole to close it out. He got it — an approach that settled around 12 feet, and a putt that decided a major. His caddie Dean reportedly summed up the pressure of that moment about as well as anyone could.

Fore Play

@ForePlayPod

Ryan Fox’s caddie Dean put it best… “Foxy, you probably only have one putt in your life to win a major championship, and you effing holed it.” What a moment. Presented by @Chevrolet

For Young, it's another gut punch in a major-title chase that's starting to feel like a theme. He'd already won The Players Championship earlier this year, proof he can close out big events, but the biggest prizes in golf keep slipping just out of reach. Losing a major on the 72nd hole to a birdie is about as cruel an ending as the sport offers, and it's fair to wonder how long this one sticks with him.

Then came the twist nobody scripted: Fox and Young ended up on the same flight home the next morning, Claret Jug and all. It's the kind of small-world moment that only golf's tight, globe-trotting schedule can produce — winner and runner-up, still buzzing (or stinging) from the day before, stuck in adjacent rows for hours.

Fore Play

@ForePlayPod

Ryan Fox ripped Cam Young’s heart out with a birdie on 18 to win The Open… then was on the SAME FLIGHT BACK with him the next morning. Can’t make it up.

And Fox, fittingly, wasn't stuffing the trophy in an overhead bin this time. Word is he flew the Claret Jug home to New Zealand in first class — a nice upgrade from how most golfers have to schlep their hardware around after a big week. Between the walk-off birdie, the candid interviews, and now this, Fox's Open week has turned into one of the more feel-good stories golf has had in a while.