Exclusive:Open champion Ryan Fox on 'surreal' plane journey with Claret Jug and St Andrews defence making him 'cry'

Ryan Fox, the new Open champion, has spoken about his “surreal” plane journey from Liverpool to London on Monday morning with Cameron Young sitting in front of him - around 12 hours after he’d holed an 11-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to pip him in The 154th Open at Royal Birkdale.

In one of his first interviews since joining Sir Bob Charles as the only Kiwis to claim the Claret Jug, Fox also admitted that just thinking about defending the trophy at St Andrews in 12 months’ time had him feeling “close to tears”.

Ryan Fox holds the Claret Jug aloft winning The 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale | Tom Russo | The Scotsman

The Scotsman’s one-to-one chat with Fox, who is now back in Florida savouring his maiden major win with wife Anneke and their two girls - Isobel and Margot - started with this correspondent having to apologise for getting the designated time for our interview wrong and him having to make a whatsapp call.

“That’s no problem,” he said. “My head is all over the place, too (laughing). Yeah, I am still trying to figure out what went on last week.”

Here’s our interview with the 39-year-old, who is the son of All Blacks legend Grant Fox while his grandfather, Merv Wallace, captained New Zealand at cricket.

How does it feel being back home as the Open champion?

“Yeah, it is very cool. It’s been great to catch up with family and the girls have been excited to see the trophy (having told dad to ‘bring home a trophy’ when he spoke to them on Saturday night after catapulting himself into contention with a major record-equalling 62). Yeah, I think every time my wife and I have had a moment, we’ve kind of looked at each other and gone ‘what the hell just happened?’ Like, it’s still surreal.”

Do the girls realise that it’s a pretty special trophy that you took home to them?

“We’ve tried to explain it. But,yeah, I think they just thought it was a trophy. The fact I brought two home - the real one and a replica - they thought it was one each. So they’ve both had a hold of the real one, which was a little bit worrying when you are giving it to a three-year-old. But she did a pretty good job and we’ve got a cool photo of her holding it, which we will save for her 21st (laughing).”

Tell us about you taking the two trophies on the flight from Liverpool to London on Monday morning?

“Yeah, well I didn’t go to sleep, so I was a little in pain on Monday morning, but it was all worth it. I went to the check in and I almost felt a little guilty as I turned up at the airport and Cam Young is in front of me in the check-in line. Obviously he was a bit gutted, but he was great. I was feeling for him a little bit as he would have been standing around on Sunday afternoon on that range thinking he had one hand on the Claret Jug for a little while there. So, yeah, I felt a bit guilty about how it worked out and then I walk into check in and I’ve got these two big rolly boxes and I was like ‘I don’t know what I am going to do’. I didn’t want to check them in as I didn’t want to be the person who loses the Claret Jug and I am pretty sure that BA didn’t want to be the airline that lost the Claret Jug. So I said to the lady at check in, ‘these are pretty important, can I take these on the plane? She asked, ‘what’s in it?’ I was like, ‘the Claret Jug, the Open Championship trophy!’ She’s like, ‘did you win it?’ And I’m like, ‘yeah’. So she said they would organise that for me. She said that normally someone would make a call beforehand and I was like, ‘well, it happened pretty late last night and I’m still not sure it is real (laughing). But she was great about it. I then wanrered on the plane and tried to work out how I was going to get them in the overhead compartment and I’ve seen that video on social media where someone has seen them up there and I’m sitting behind Cam on the plane. It was all a bit strange. As we were getting off the plane, I didn’t want to hold anyone up, so I was standing there waiting for everyone else to get off and half the plane said ‘well done’ on the way past, which was pretty cool as well. Yeah, it was pretty surreal Monday morning.”

You’ve pulled out of the 3M Open this week, which is probably no surprise. What are the plans for the next few days and when do you go back to New Zealand?

“We are going back to New Zealand tonight, actually. It is something I feel I need to do to see friends and family. Obviously there is going to be a buzz around New Zealand and I would kind of like to be there, you know, while it is still fresh. Obviously there’s been a bit of press around people pulling out of events the week after they’ve won an event or a major and I am sorry to be that guy again. But it feels like climbing Everest last week and I think to play golf again I am going to have to climb back down again. It is going to take a little while to do that and I certainly wouldn’t have been able to play this week or next week. Obviously this win has changed my position in the FedEx Cup and everything like that, so it takes a little bit off pressure in that respect and I’ll be taking three weeks off before the FedEx Cup Play-Offs and everything else that is coming up. I just need some time to contemplate and figure out what’s just happened as I think that is pretty important.”

This might be a bit of an unfair question, but where do you know stand in the Fox family in terms of sporting success in your family given it is very rich?

“Look, I think it is probably unfair to compare them. Obviously dad was part of the team that won the Rugby World Cup - the inaugural one in 1987 - and that is pretty hard to beat. And he was an integral part of that team. So, yeah, look, I can definitely plead a pretty good case now, put it that way (laughing).”

The DP World Tour video has re-released a video on you that encapsulates your journey in golf. How nice is it for people to see that at a time when your profile has gone through the roof?

“They did a great job with that video and it’s great to see that they’ve put it out there again. Yeah, look, I had a different path of getting out here. I was a cricketer and a rugby player first. I loved golf, but it took me a while to take it seriously. I turned pro at 25, became a rookie on the DP World Tour at 30 then a rookie on the PGA Tour at 37 and now a major champion at 39. Like, it’s not the normal path. But I definitely wouldn’t be here without everything I did before that. I loved playing cricket and rugby and I learned a lot from those sports and could take that into golf. You know, I probably wasn’t mature enough in my early-20s to be any good at golf, mentally anyway. You know, I didn’t have the mental strength and all the other stuff that is required to do it. I was a late developer in that regard and had a lot of help along the way from various people, my mum and dad included, especially dad caddying for me in amateur and professional golf. Yeah, it has been cool to walk off the beaten track in that regard and just be a little different. If you would have given me what I have achieved even before last week when I turned pro, I would have jumped at it. Now it’s beyond my wildest dreams basically and hopefully there’s a bit more to come yet. But I guess everything from here is kind of the gravy on the top, to be honest.”

How is it going to feel making your Presidents Cup debut as the Open champion, especially after lots of people thought that should have happened way before now?

“Yeah, that was a huge goal this year. I was pretty happy where I was sitting before last week. I knew that I needed one or two decent weeks to guarantee a pick from Geoff [Ogilvy]. But to now go up there as the Open champion will be unbelievable, to be honest. We’ve had a few dinners and stuff with sort of an extended team and I feel like I’ve got on really well with all the guys and it will be pretty cool to share that experience with them. It is something I am really looking forward to and, yeah, hopefully we can give the Americans a bit of a run. You know, it’s about time the International team won it and I feel we’ve got some really good players this year and a really good team dynamic. Hopefully that serves us well.”

You followed in the footsteps of a Kiwi legend in Bob Charles, the 1963 champion at Royal Lytham, by winning The Open. Have you spoken to him?

“I haven’t spoken to him person yet, but I got a very nice message from him and he’s also done quite a bit of media at home in New Zealand and I’ve seen some of that. He’s been so kind. He’s obviously a legend in New Zealand golf and to walk in his footsteps is incredible. It was well before my time when he won The Open Championship, but I like my golf history and I know a fair bit about it and I have been lucky enough to play a fair bit with Sir Bob. Yeah, to hear him say what he’s been saying and to get that nice message from him really meant a lot. I am looking forward to taking the Claret Jug back to New Zealand for the first time since 1963 - the first time in 63 years!

You will be defending your title at St Andrews, where you won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in 2022. How special is that going to be?

“Look, I haven’t been able to process that yet. This was the last major I had an exemption into this year for a while. I obviously don;t have to worry about that going forward now. Look, it is going to probably be nerve-wracking more than anything at the moment thinking about it. The whole of what happened on Sunday still feels surreal and it will take a while for me to believe that it happened and for me to embrace what happened. I am sure that when the time comes it will be the greatest thing ever to bring the Claret Jug back to the Home of Golf at St Andrews and be the defending champion. When I think about it now, it feels a little bit overwhelming and, yeah, intimnidsting. Look, it’s more than a dream come true what’s happened and , yeah, I am going to soak it up as much as possible. I guess the last hurrah of all of this will be bringing it back to St Andrews next year and I am almost in tears just thinking about it now.”