Ryan Fox joins Herbert in the lead after record equaling 62
Ryan Fox shakes hands with playing partner Xander Schauffele – image Stuart Kerr R&A via Getty Images
New Zealand’s Ryan Fox headed out for his third round of the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, five hours and twenty minutes ahead, but eight shots behind yesterday’s record-equalling Lucas Herbert. Exactly four hours later, the 39-year-old Aucklander walked from the course tied in the lead with Herbert after his nine-birdie round of 62.
Herbert was still 1 hour and 2o minutes away from his tee time, but Fox had made him and the other 77 players make the cut, fully aware of what was possible in the outstanding scoring conditions that were prevailing on day three.
Playing his 10th Open Championship, Fox has yet to record a top ten with a best of 16th at Royal Portrush in 2019, his best finish to date.
That now appears likely to change in the best way possible after drawing level with the 36-hole leader courtesy of a stunning round in which he made the turn in 29 and added another birdie at the 10th to be 6 under through ten and within just two of Herbert, only two hours after heading out.
The only real blemish came at the par 4 15th, where he found the fairway bunker from the tee, was unable to reach the green with his second, pitched to 25 feet, and two-putted for what would be his only bogey.
He immediately bounced back when he got up and down from a greenside bunker for a birdie at the par 5 14th, then added two further birdies at the 16th and 17th, the second of which came from an extraordinary pitch of 45 yards from the right rough and from an awkward angle to 4 feet at the par 5 17th.
Needing a birdie at the last to set an all-time major championship 18-hole record of 61, Fox found the fairway bunker from the tee but somehow hit an extraordinary shot onto the green, and although he left his first putt 4 feet short, he safely negotiated his final task for par, his round of 62 and his share of the tournament lead at that point.
Understandably, Fox was pumped with his effort and where he finds himself through 54 holes, irrespective of what might happen later in the day.
“I feel really good, to be honest,” said Fox perhaps understating his feelings. “Being picky, I’d want a couple of drives back today maybe, but outside of that, I feel like I didn’t really miss a shot. Had a couple of great shots down the stretch, putted really nicely.
“But it feels like, when you’re out in the morning, when the wind’s down around here, there’s almost some pressure on to shoot a score. It was nice, like Xander and I had a lot of fun out there today. Both made a bunch of birdies and kind of fed off each other.
“I would have taken 62 on a Saturday, that’s for sure.
“To be honest, nothing really changed. I didn’t think about much. It was just pick my targets, hit a shot, and keep it rolling basically.
“As I said, I get along pretty well with Xander. We just talked walking down most of the fairways. It was kind of easy. Didn’t really think about anything else that was going on there.
“Yeah, it’s nice to be in that head space. Hopefully I can find something similar tomorrow.”
When asked when he first started thinking about the historical ramifications of what he was putting together.
“Yeah, it probably crept into my head on 10, but I wouldn’t say it was there. Then when I birdied 14, I was like I’ve got a chance here. Obviously 17 you feel like it’s a birdie hole. If you can sneak one more there, I knew I had a chance to get to that 62 number.
“To be honest, standing on the last tee, I’m going if I can get one on the fairway here, you can get a wedge or a 9-iron in and have a putt for 61.
“I was pretty happy to have that 40-footer out of the fairway trap. Didn’t hit a great first putt, but I was very happy the second one went in the middle.”
How was Fox going to occupy his time for the rest of the day?
“I’ll watch a fair bit of golf on TV and try to get a replay of the All Blacks game. I watched a decent chunk of that this morning, and I was pretty happy with that result too. I just saw Shane (Lowry) on the screen, and I’m looking forward to taking 100 quid off of him, the little bet we had.”
One of the reasons the whole golfing world likes Ryan Fox is for exactly that reason. He is a knockabout bloke who likes the things most of us do.
