2026 British Open final round updates: Ryan Fox pulls off epic rally to win at Royal Birkdale

SOUTHPORT, England – The final round of The Open is in the books, and what a day it was at Royal Birkdale.

Sam Burns began the day with the lead, Tommy Fleetwood and Scottie Scheffler both put early charges into the crowds in England, and Cameron Young shot one of the rounds of the tournament to seemingly get within each of an unexpected major.

But the day ultimately belonged to New Zealand's Ryan Fox, who rallied down the stretch for the biggest win of his career. Four birdies in his last six holes, including a 12-foot make on the last hole, delivered a one-shot win over Young in the year's final major.

See below for a breakdown of the day, as it happened, from our team as a bevy of players had a realistic shot to win The Open while the day unfolded. But ultimately, it's Ryan Fox whose name is going on the claret jug (all update times local BST):

6:35 p.m.: Ryan Fox has won The Open! With a stirring birdie on the 72nd hole, the 39-year-old Kiwi has earned the biggest win of his career. Fox battled through a pair of bad bunker breaks over the final four holes but was clinical on the difficult finishing hole, splitting the fairway before hitting his approach to 11 feet, 7 inches and rolling in the putt. He's the third Kiwi to win a men's major and just the second player from New Zealand to win The Open, joining 1963 champion Bob Charles.

6:32 p.m.: It wasn't to be for Sam Burns, who comes up short on the final green for the second straight major. Burns could never fully recover from a run of three straight bogeys on Nos. 4-6, and after failing to birdie No. 17 he grazed the edge with a lengthy birdie putt on the 72nd hole that would have tied Cameron Young at 9-under. After initially expecting to miss this event given the recent birth of his daughter, Belle, Burns heads home with a solo third-place finish at Royal Birkdale.

6:20 p.m.: After another bad break into a bunker, this time off the tee, Ryan Fox had a 10-foot birdie putt on No. 17 to take the lead - but it missed the mark. He'll head to the 72nd hole still tied with Cameron Young at 9-under, while Sam Burns (8-under) will look to birdie the difficult finishing hole to have a chance at a playoff. All signs indicate that one of those three men will engrave their name on the claret jug in short order.

6:05 p.m.: What a bounce back from Ryan Fox! After taking his medicine following a bad break on No. 15, he calmly hit his approach to pin-high on No. 16 and rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt. He's once again back to 9-under, tied for the lead with Cameron Young as he heads to the par-5 17th which has played as the easiest hole on the course this week.

6:00 p.m.: There won't be a fairy tale ending this week for Tommy Fleetwood, as the local hero comes up a couple shots short. Fleetwood broke par in all four rounds this week, and he has now set an Open tournament record with seven straight rounds in the 60s dating back to last year at Royal Portrush. But he'll look back with some regret on three straight bogeys from Nos. 9-11 that essentially derailed his hopes. Fleetwood reached 8-under after a birdie on No. 8, but didn't make another birdie until No. 17. The galleries around the final green gave him a rousing ovation after he nearly holed his approach, leading to a closing birdie, but at 7-under he'll finish at least two shots back as his quest for a major breakthrough continues.

5:52 p.m.: After a birdie on the par-5 14th to grab a share of the lead, Ryan Fox got one of the worst bounces of the week when his tee shot on No. 15 bounded off the riveted face of a greenside bunker and rolled under the back lip. Fox had to play out backwards, leading to a bogey and dropping him back to 8-under. As the leaders head to the final three holes at Royal Birkdale, Cameron Young remains in front at 9-under - nearly two hours after he finished his final round - with Fox and Sam Burns both one shot back.

5:28 p.m.: Open aspirations remain alive for Sam Burns. The overnight leader endured a tough stretch on the front nine, making three straight bogeys on Nos. 4-6 to drop out of the lead, and has made just one birdie all day. But he offered a rare sign of emotion after holing a 27-footer to save par on No. 13 and remain at 8-under. After shooting 62-65 across Rounds 2 and 3, Burns is 2-over on his final round - but he's still just one shot behind Cameron Young heading to the final five holes at Royal Birkdale, which include a pair of par-5s.

5:16 p.m.: Speaking with Cameron Young's caddie Kyle Sterbinkski after the round, there was no sense that the 64 they had just put up would be enough to win a major championship. Bogey on the last, after all, leaves a sour taste. But as the time goes on, the seas are beginning to part for Young. Si Woo Kim has fallen to 8-under with two bogeys on his back nine. Sam Burns cannot find the same form he showed in the middle two rounds thus far on Sunday. Ryan Fox and Lucas Herbert have yet to hit a second gear. Young's 9-under sits alone, unparalleled, as the leaders approach the final stretch.

Could this backdoor surge be the performance that gives Young his first major championship? Stay tuned.

4:52 p.m.: Scottie Scheffler's second shot on the par-5 17th veers into the hospitality down the left side of the course, and a rules official is called to the scene.

This tournament really has everything. In a scene evoking Jordan Spieth's drop on the range from 2017, Scheffler is granted Temporary Immovable Object relief despite never finding his ball. Of course, the World No. 1 plants that wedge from the rough inside 10 feet and buries the birdie putt to move to 8-under.

4:37 p.m.: No one can find footing at the top of the leaderboard, and Cameron Young might not want to stray too far from the premises after posting 9-under. The wind is up, and Bryson DeChambeau just made triple to join the line of skydivers hurling themselves from contention as the final group makes the turn.

The only man without a bogey on the card with a shot at the claret jug at this point is our leader, Si Woo Kim.

4:05 p.m.: Will it be a question of what might have been for Cameron Young? The day's best round ended with a hiccup, as Young hit the wall of a fairway bunker with his approach to No. 18. After nearly holing a greenside bunker shot, he closed with a bogey - his only of the day - to finish off a 6-under 64. Young seemingly shot his way out of the tournament with a back-nine 40 on Saturday, but the reigning PLAYERS champ bounced back in a big way to close things out at Royal Birkdale. Young has now posted the clubhouse lead at 9-under, currently one shot behind Si Woo Kim, and now he'll wait to see if it's good enough for a potential playoff as the leaders head to the back nine.

3:48 p.m.: We have a new leader at the top of the yellow scoreboards, and it's Si Woo Kim. Kim is looking to become the first Asian-born player to win The Open and got to 10-under after rolling in a putt from off the green on No. 6. He entered this week with a sparse record in the majors, just one prior top-10 finish, but he has carded three straight rounds of 68 or better and now sits at 2-under on his final round.

3:31 p.m.: Tommy Fleetwood buries his third birdie of the day at No. 8, and all of a sudden he is just one back of the lead. Sam Burns touched 11-under briefly but coughed up shots at Nos. 4 and 5 to recede to 9-under. The leaderboard now features Burns, Fleetwood, Ryan Fox, Scottie Scheffler and a white-hot Cameron Young all within one stroke of the lead. Strap in.

2:42 p.m.: The final group is out on the golf course. Overnight leader Sam Burns made a stress-free par and that's what he will be looking to do today. Keep it simple and pick your spots to be aggressive and stretch the lead. He's only 1-for-5 in converting 54-hole leads in his PGA TOUR career. He has yet to hold one at this tournament, though he was just a shot off the lead in 2024 at Royal Troon and shot 80.

2:20 p.m.: We've already got a moment that we'll remember for a long time, regardless of outcome. Tommy Fleetwood just jarred a 73-foot birdie putt at the first hole, igniting the home crowd. There's not a soul on property rooting against Fleetwood this week, who grew up just down the road from Royal Birkdale. He sputtered to the finish line yesterday, hindering his hopes, but that birdie will instill some belief. He's 6-under, four back.

1:19 p.m.: Time to get serious now. Scottie Scheffler just birdied the second and is now up to 6-under. The putting has held him back all week, but he hasn't needed it so far. He stuck it to 4 feet at the second and within a few inches at the first.

1:06 p.m.: Some early fireworks from the stars chasing. Scottie Scheffler just nearly holed out for eagle at the first and is quickly in red numbers for the day, 5-under overall. Cameron Young just birdied the fifth, now 4-under for his day and 7-under for the tournament. Can either of them mount a charge? There are few proven players ahead of them. Bryson DeChambeau is the only player in the top-10 (other than Scheffler) that has won a major.

12:40 p.m.: The lowest score we've seen so far today is 4-under 66. If that's representative of the day ahead, it shrinks the list of possible winners or will require Sam Burns to implode, which feels unlikely. We might be done with 62s, though just as we type this, Cameron Young birdied the third to move 3-under through three. He's now 6-under, only four back of Burns.

Still a lot of uncertainty about how this might end. Winning score probabilities via Data Golf:

13-under: 13.4%

12-under: 20.0%

11-under: 22.0%

10-under: 17.4%

11:39 p.m.: The finishing holes at Royal Birkdale have been excellent all week, with the par-5 17th providing hope in front of the grueling 18th finisher. Notably, the par-3 15th, a new hole in the redesign here, is pushed back to its limit of 241 yards for the finale. This is how designer Tom Mackenzie intended the hole to play, daunting and intimidating, especially if approached into the wind. That par-3 will kick off a thrilling quartet of holes down the stretch, with the 16th pushed up a bit to potentially be drivable based on wind direction at 382 yards today. No lead is safe heading into this final stretch.

11:15 a.m.: Good morning! There are no low scores out there yet, like we saw with Ryan Fox’s 62 on Saturday. That doesn’t mean one isn’t out there.

Here are some notable tee times for today:

• 11:30 a.m.: Rory McIlroy, Jordan Smith
• 12:05 p.m.: Cameron Young, Robert MacIntyre
• 12:45 p.m.: Scottie Scheffler, Jose Luis Ballester Barrio
• 12:55 p.m.: Jon Rahm, Shane Lowry
• 1:40 p.m.: Tommy Fleetwood, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen
• 1:50 p.m.: Bryson DeChambeau, Jackson Suber
• 2:00 p.m.: Ludvig Åberg, Lucas Herbert
• 2:10 p.m.: Ryan Gerard, Si Woo Kim
• 2:20 p.m.: Sam Burns, Ryan Fox