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British Open Winner Had the Sweetest FaceTime Call With His Wife and Daughters After Stunning Finish

Andy Nesbitt|
Ryan Fox won the 2026 British Open with a birdie on the final hole.
Ryan Fox won the 2026 British Open with a birdie on the final hole. | @NBCSports

Ryan Fox stunned the golf world on Sunday when he stepped up to an 11-foot birdie putt on the final hole and jarred it to win the 2026 British Open in dramatic fashion at Royal Birkdale.

Fox, a 39-year-old from New Zealand, came out of nowhere to win the final major championship of the year. He entered the week ranked No. 56 in the world and then became the lowest ranked player to win the British Open since Darren Clarke pulled off a stunner in 2011.

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"To cap it off with a putt—everyone practices on the green, I guess, you've got a putt to win a major championship, to win The Open,” Fox said during his post-round press conference. “It's not like that in real life. It's not a very comfortable feeling. It's certainly very enjoyable when you see it go in."

After his win he spoke about his wife and two daughters, who watched the tournament from back home in Florida. Once he was able to get some time soak in in his victory, he picked up his phone and FaceTimed his family. Their call was as special as you would think it would be.

“Good work, daddy!,” one of his daughters said.

“You asked me to bring a trophy home and I am, aren’t I?,” Fox said.

“The best trophy you could win,” his wife said of the historic Claret Jug. “The most famous trophy.”

“I don’t know what to think right now,” Fox said while still clearly in disbelief of his life-changing win. “I don’t know how I hit that last putt, to be honest.”

His daughter then asked a very important question: “Daddy, can you show me how big the trophy is?”

Here’s that FaceTime call that the Fox family will never forget:

Fox celebrated his win well into Sunday night, saying during an interview with Golf Channel that the Claret Jug would be filled with red wine.

Then Monday morning he was spotted at the airport, boarding his flight back home with the Claret Jug in tow.

Fox might be the newest British Open champion but on his early morning flight he was just a regular guy sitting in coach with his trophy in the overhead bin.

How Ryan Fox won the British Open

Fox didn’t get off to the best of starts at Royal Birkdale. He opened the championship with a two-over 72 in Thursday’s first round. On Friday he shot a two-under 68 to make the cut by a stroke.

The on Saturday he got hot, shooting an eight-under 62 which tied the record for the lowest score in major championship history. That put him in the final group on Sunday with Sam Burns. Fox, who had never finished in the top 15 in any of his previous 28 major championship appearances, birdied four of his final six holes to get a dramatic one-shot victory over Cameron Young.

What Ryan Fox gets for winning the British Open

Fox took home $3.2 million with his win, which is pretty awesome. But so much more comes with winning the British Open. He’s now exempt in all the other three majors for the next five years and is guaranteed entry into the British Open until he’s 55 years old. 

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Andy Nesbitt
ANDY NESBITT

Andy Nesbitt is the assistant managing editor of audience engagement at Sports Illustrated. He works closely with the Breaking and Trending News team to shape SI’s daily coverage across all sports. A 20-year veteran of the sports media business, he has worked for Fox Sports, For the Win, The Boston Globe and NBC Sports, having joined SI in February 2023. Nesbitt is a golf fanatic who desperately wants to see the Super Bowl played on a Saturday night.

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