America 250: Bobby Jones
Born on March 17, 1902 in Atlanta, Georgia, Bobby Jones became one of the greatest amateur golfers in history. As a teenager, he reached the third round of the US Amateur at the age of 14, showing early promise. He went on to win 13 major championships, all as an amateur, a record that still stands. In 1930, Jones achieved
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Ryan Fox failed to birdie the easiest hole at Royal Birkdale while trying to win The Open Championship. But when it mattered most, he birdied the toughest hole on the course to capture the Claret Jug.
Tied with clubhouse leader Cameron Young at 9-under, the 39-year-old New Zealander needed a birdie on No. 18 to win the tournament after failing to birdie the par-5 17th hole.
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After knocking his drive down the final fairway, Fox hit his approach fairway to within 12 feet and then dripped his birdie putt into the edge of the cup to win the 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. He finished at 10-under, one shot ahead of Young and two ahead of 54-hole leader Sam Burns.
Ryan Fox celebrates after birdieing the 18th to win The 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. (Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images)
But his victory may mean more to international golf than anything else.
Going into the final round, everyone at Royal Birkdale was chasing American Sam Burns, who was looking for his first major championship win.
Burns, at 10 under, led Fox and South Korea’s Si Woo Kim by two shots. American Ryan Gerard and Australian Lucas Herbert were three shots back, while big names like Bryson DeChambeau, Scottie Scheffler and Ludvig Åberg were several shots back, but lurking.
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Burns achieved that advantage with one of the best two-round stretches in major championship history.
After opening the tournament with a three-over 73, Burns ended the men’s major record with an eight-under 62 on Friday. He followed that with a five-under 65 in the third round, giving him a total of 127 over 36 holes, the lowest score across consecutive rounds in men’s major championship history.
And Burns was not alone in going historically low.
Herbert also shot 62 on Friday, while Fox matched that tally on Saturday to gain 50 spots up the leaderboard and earn a spot alongside Burns in Sunday’s final pairing. Three players had tied the major championship scoring record over two days at Royal Birkdale.
Burns also knew better than most how quickly a promising major championship Sunday could turn to heartbreak.
Sam Burns came close again but fell just short of another major championship. (David Davies/PA Photos)
He held the 54-hole lead at the 2025 US Open at Oakmont before shooting a final-round 78 and falling into a tie for seventh. A year later, Burns nearly completed a furious Sunday comeback at Shinnecock Hills, but his birdie putt on the 72nd hole stopped inches short, leaving him one shot behind eventual champion Wyndham Clark.
Now Burns had another opportunity.
And he initially seemed ready to take control of the tournament.
The 29-year-old American birdied the second hole to reach 11-under and extend his advantage.
Then everything changed.
Burns made three consecutive bogeys on Nos. 4, 5 and 6 and coughed up his entire lead in a span of three holes. The player who started Sunday with a two-shot lead suddenly found himself fighting to stay in contention.
And as Burns stumbled, another American approached from the middle of the pack.
Cam Young, like Burns, was already familiar with major championship heartbreak. He finished one shot behind Cameron Smith at the 2022 Open Championship despite shooting a final round 65 and making eagle on the 72nd hole.
Young began the final round seven shots off the lead, seemingly out of contention, but immediately turned into a factor with a spectacular front-nine 29. He made four birdies over his first five holes and eventually reached 10-under with another birdie on the 17th.
Then came trouble.
Young drove into a fairway bunker on the final hole and failed to clear its steep face with his second shot. He eventually escaped with a bogey, but still posted an incredible six-under 64 to take the clubhouse lead at nine under.
But then Ryan Fox came accusing.
Fox birdied the 13th and 14th holes to catch Young at nine-under. The New Zealander had a terrible break with his tee shot on the redesigned par-3 15th and couldn’t save par. However, he bounced back with a birdie on No. 16 to tie Young again.
Young found himself in the unenviable position of sitting and just waiting to see if his score was good enough.
Cameron Young and his caddy, Kyle Sterbinsky, look on during the final round of The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. (Tracy Wilcox/PGA TOUR)
Fox caught another bad break on the par-5 17th hole. He chose to hit an iron from the tee to avoid the fairway bunkers, but his ball managed to creep into one of those bunkers after rolling out to over 320 yards. He still managed to give himself a good birdie look, but missed staying tied.
Burns also failed to birdie No. 17, the hole that played the easiest during Sunday’s final round. That left Fox tied with Young and Burns one shot behind on the course’s toughest hole, the par-4 18th.
Fox made it look anything but difficult, blasting his tee shot down the middle of the fairway before hooking an iron to within 12 feet and giving himself a birdie putt to win the Open.
Burns also played the hole well, but not well enough. His approach came to rest just within 30 feet of the cup and the American failed to convert, adding another close call to his major championship resume.
That set the stage for Fox. Make the putt, win The Open. Miss out and go to a playoff against Cam Young.
And he buried it to deliver another heartbreak for Young and another heartbreak for American golf.
Because Sunday’s final round was about much more than whether Burns, Young or another challenger would walk away with the Claret Jug.
It was also about whether American golf had really begun to take back control of the sport.
Not long ago, that control seemed absolute.
Beginning with Brooks Koepka’s victory at the 2023 PGA Championship, Americans won seven consecutive men’s majors. Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Bryson DeChambeau all followed Koepka during a run that ended with Schauffele completing an American sweep of the 2024 majors at Royal Troon.
Rory McIlroy finally ended the streak with his dramatic breakthrough at the 2025 Masters.
Even then, it hardly felt like the balance of power had shifted.
Scheffler won the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. JJ Spaun won the US Open at Oakmont. Scheffler then dominated The Open at Royal Portrush.
The Americans had won 10 of 11 major championships.
It wasn’t a rivalry at the time. It was dominance.
Then the tide turned.
Tommy Fleetwood finally got his first PGA Tour victory by winning the 2025 Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup.
A month later, Europe embarrassed the United States on American soil at the Ryder Cup.
The final score, 15-13, made the contest seem much closer than it actually was. Europe entered Sunday’s singles with an 11½-4½ advantage and had already reduced the final session to little more than a desperate American bid to avoid complete humiliation.
European players celebrate with the trophy after winning the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Things did not improve when the calendar changed to 2026.
McIlroy successfully defended his Masters title and England’s Aaron Rai followed with his first major championship victory at the PGA Championship. European golfers had won the first two majors of the year.
Wyndham Clark finally stopped the bleeding by winning his second US Open at Shinnecock Hills.
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An American victory at Royal Birkdale would give American golfers the final two major championships of the season and provide real evidence that momentum had begun to shift back.
A non-American victory would leave Clark as the only American major champion in 2026, marking the first time since 2014 that Americans won only one of the four men’s majors.
And the latter is what happened when Ryan Fox became just the second New Zealander to win The Open and the third New Zealander to win a major men’s golf championship.
Clark’s US Open win stands as the only US major championship win of the season, the first time since 2014 that US men failed to win at least two majors.
Europe embarrassed the United States at Bethpage. Fleetwood took the FedEx Cup. European players captured the Masters and the PGA Championship. And a non-American ended the season by lifting the Claret Jug at Royal Birkdale.
It became the toughest major championship season for American golf in 12 years.
And the next Ryder Cup will be played at Adare Manor in Ireland, where the USA will try to win on European soil for the first time since 1993.
Based on the past year, there is little reason to believe that the drought is coming to an end.
