THERE are few things in sport harder to achieve than win a professional golf tournament. The field is large, their skill is undoubted, and the level of concentration and consistency required to win an event played over four days is immense. That goes doubly so for a Major golf tournament. There are only four a year, the large field of contendors are the elite of the sport, and the focus required to minimise mistakes over 72 holes is a true test of mental strength and physical ability. Winning a Major is like climbing a mountain, and New Zealand’s Ryan Fox had his Everest moment in the early hours of Monday morning NZT when he won the British Open. The oldest of the four majors, it is regarded by most golf players and fans as the pinnacle event of the sport. The winner is called the ‘‘champion golfer of the year’’ and few followers of a worldwide sport would demur from according that accolade to the British Open winner. Just three other New Zealanders have won a golf major; Dame Lydia Ko, Michael Campbell and Sir Bob Charles. That two of those three illustrious names have subsequently been awarded one of this country’s highest honours amply demonstrates the magnitude of such an achievement. Sir Bob, like Fox, won the British Open. Usually played on a testing links layout, the courses which host the Open are undulating, windswept, and feature some the most punishing long grass and bunkers around to bedevil those who hit an errant shot. Fox was certainly tested in his first two rounds, shooting 72 on day one to flirt with missing the cut, before righting the ship with a 68 on day two. While most will laud Fox’s magnificent performance to shoot another 68 on the final day of the tournament, it was his stellar round of 62 on Saturday which set him up to hoist the famous claret jug trophy. To put scoring 62 — eight under par on the par 70 Royal Birkdale course — on perspective, 62 is the record lowest score in any round at a major championship. There have been tens of thousands of rounds played in 150-years plus of the tournaments which comprise the majors, and only eight golfers have scorched through 18 holes with such brilliance. That score catapulted Fox into contention and he was tied for second, two shots off the lead, as Sunday dawned. His final round lacked the flair of his Saturday heroics, but that was not what the situation demanded. Winning a Major is often about minimising mistakes and controlling one’s nerves, and despite confessing to being fully aware of the cauldron he was in, Fox held steady to balance out his three bogeys with five birdies. The confidence he showed in scoring birdie on the final hole to win the tournament belied the inner turmoil Fox was feeling as his long climb to the top of his sport was over. Many things appeal about Fox as a major champion. One is that he did it the hard way. He was not a heralded child prodigy expected to sweep golf before him. The 39-year-old ground away in lesser events for years before making the European tour aged 30 and the PGA Tour, on which he has won twice, at age 37. Another thing which appeals about Fox is that he is humble about his achievements, personable, and genuine. Golf is a game which can attract some prickly personalities and generate feuds, but his fellow players do not seem to have a bad word to say about him: their pleasure in his win was genuine. That sentiment was shared by Fox’s fellow New Zealanders yesterday when they woke to the news that Fox had secured a fantastic achievement. Kicking off at the World Cup THIS was a great World Cup right up until the whistle blew to kick off the final., As its finale US2026 served up a ghastly football match, which a graceless and ill-disciplined Argentina fully deserved to lose to Spain. It is a game best forgotten in what has otherwise been a memorable month for the sport. While some will still question the wisdom of having expanded the number of countries at the tournament, few will lament that Cabo Verde, Curacao and, indeed, New Zealand, got their days in the sun. Spain were worthy winners and look like being football’s yardstick for some years to come.
