Ryan Fox and his road to British Open champion

Ryan Fox is the British Open champion, and it’s going to take time for that to sink in no matter how many times he watches the replay of a 12-foot birdie putt on the final hole, or how many times he stares at his name on the base of the silver claret jug.

“I don’t know if it’s something I’ve dreamed of. I don’t know if it’s something I ever thought was possible,” Fox said after his one-shot victory Sunday. “But we’re here now.” It’s how he got there that sets him apart from so many other names on golf’s oldest trophy.

Never mind the son of All Blacks rugby great Grant Fox didn’t play golf competitively until he was 17, or that all he ever wanted was to have a card on any tour. Fox had never finished better than a tie for 16th in 28 majors before arriving at Royal Birkdale.

And to think Fox nearly quit before he even got started.

It was his second year on the PGA Tour of Australasia and Fox was about to lose his card with two events left in the season when he went to the Australian Masters at Royal Melbourne.

“My dad came over and caddied for me, and he said to me, why do you play this game?’ And I said, Well, it’s supposed to be fun.’ But it wasn’t really very fun at the time,” Fox said Sunday night, the silver claret jug at his side. “He goes, Well, let’s just go out this week try to have some fun.”

He did well enough to keep his card, and before long Fox was on his way on a path that culminated with a putt he only imagined in his dreams — a 12-foot birdie, the final shot of the 154th Open, middle of the cup, arms raised, face awash in joy and disbelief.

“Everyone practices on the green - you’ve got a putt to win a major championship, to win The Open. It’s not like that in real life. It’s not a very comfortable feeling,” Fox said. “It’s certainly very enjoyable when you see it go in.”

Royal Birkdale now has two Open champions from Down Under. Fox joined Ian Baker-Finch, the Australian who won on these links in 1991 and who was here this week to promote his book, “To Hell and Back.”

It wasn’t that way for Fox. He was more of a slow, steady rise. He had three wins on the PGA Tour of Australasia, three more on the European Tour (including the BMW PGA Championship) and two wins on the PGA Tour last year that included a playoff win over Sam Burns in the Canadian Open.

“Why it’s a slow burn? I don’t know,” Fox said as he contemplated his timeline — European tour rookie at age 30, PGA Tour rookie at age 37, major champion at age 39. He’s the oldest first-time major champion since Henrik Stenson was 40 at Royal Troon in 2016.

“If you’d have given me my career up till yesterday when I first turned pro, I would have jumped at it,” he said. “Now I probably would have killed people for it.”

Fox showed plenty of resiliency in the final round of a British Open that kept a record crowd guessing until the very end.