After taking the long road, Fox wastes no time sealing Open glory

SOUTHPORT, England, July 19 : Ryan Fox took the scenic route to major championship glory, but when the defining moment finally arrived, he wasted no time.

Twenty-two seconds after playing partner Sam Burns missed a birdie putt that could have forced a playoff, the New Zealander rolled in the winning putt on Royal Birkdale's 18th green on Sunday to complete a British Open triumph decades in the making.

The 12-footer sealed a dramatic one-shot victory for the 39-year-old, who had never previously finished in the top 10 of a major and who was 52nd after two rounds of the Open.

Fox's journey to the Claret Jug has been anything but conventional.

"I was a rookie on the DP World Tour at 30. I was a rookie on the PGA Tour at 37 and now a major champion at 39," Fox told reporters with the Claret Jug perched in front of him.

"I'm definitely not following the trend at the moment. If you'd have given me my career up till yesterday when I first turned pro, I would have jumped at it.

"Now I probably would have killed people for it!"

What made Fox's breakthrough all the more remarkable in a game known for its often glacial pace was that it was achieved by a player who rarely lingers over anything.

From the moment American Burns missed, Fox needed barely half a minute to read, line up and hole the putt that made him the first New Zealand man to win the Open since Bob Charles in 1963.

That decisiveness has been part of him for as long as he can remember.

"I was always that way as a kid. I see things fast. I was the same when I was playing cricket growing up," said Fox, son of former All Black great Grant Fox.

NEVER METHODICAL AT ANYTHING

"I played almost every sport growing up. Tennis I wanted to hit the ball hard, and cricket I wanted to hit the