If you watched The Open you know that the PGA stars did not exactly shine at Royal Birkdale which means we have another “journeymen” win a major. Now that the four majors are completed, it is odd that other than Rory winning the Masters back-to-back; the other majors were basically won by lower ranked players: Aaron Rai (PGA Championship), Wyndham Clark (The U.S. Open) and now Ryan Fox (The Open).

I wonder if anyone had Ryan Fox to win The Open? One thing is clear, winning The Open has changed Ryan Fox’s professional life overnight. His world ranking jumped 34 spots from 56th in the world to 22. As a reference, Wyndham Clark’s rank went from 34th to 8th and Aaron Rai when from 44th to 15th. Fox now is exempt into majors for a number of years; but more life changing is the impact it will have on endorsements due to his new status and also his likeability.

I am sure I am not the only golf fan to say “Wow, what a great guy!” I am not a new fan just because he won The Open but because of his personality and all that we learned about Fox after the win. Here are the things I loved learning about Fox:

1. He plays fast. I hate the pace of play of many professional golfers. I always thought to myself why does it take so long to decide what to do on a tee box or approach shot? Well, Fox had many questions on his “fast play” and he said a number of things like he thinks fast, he does everything fast; but the best response was where he states “it’s not that difficult to pick a shot and pick a club, it’s always going to be between one or two clubs into a green.” Interview clip from YouTube at end of this post.
2. His Swing is not a typical beautiful swing to watch but again it shows regular golfers that you don’t have to have a perfect swing to be good at golf. In a YouTube video (prior to winning The Open) he describes his swing as “It’s repeatable and I’m too old to change it.” He knows he has “quirks” and talks about why in the video.
3. Fox is so genuine in all his reactions to moments and questions. It has been “bleeped” on most social media posts now; but watching live television, when he won, as he was hugging a friend, he said “Holly Sh*t” which is what I could see myself saying if I ever make a hole-in-one (which would be the closest thing I would ever have happen to feel the way pros must feel when they win).
4. Fox is an interesting person to listen to when he answers questions. Many times you hear the same answers from Pros but in many of the interviews Fox responds with thoughtful and real answers; no fluff that some PR person trained him to say.
5. Fox is a wonderful example of anything is possible. Fox did not start playing golf until he was 18. He did not become a golfer on a major tour until the age of 20 when he got his DP World Tour card and he became a rookie on the PGA Tour at the age of 37; and just two years later at the age of 39, he is the Champion Golfer of the Year winning The Open. Clearly he is a great athlete but it’s nice to see a person show that a person can achieve at the highest level without being groomed from the age of three to be a star in a specific sport.
6. A social media post showed a photo of Fox, on an airplane flight from Southport to Heathrow in economy class with the case for the claret jug in the overhead bin. My guess is he flew first glass from London back to Florida; but it was nice to see a “regular guy” moment; and what a fun experience for the people seated near him on the plane. Side bar: Apparently Cam Young was in the row in front of Fox.

There are other journeymen that have won majors in the last few years but this is the first golfer that after the win I want to now follow his career and will cheer for him when I see him playing.