Subpar - Ryan Fox joins us to break down his massive victory (and celebrations) at The 154th Open Championship

Episode Date: July 21, 2026

On this week's episode of Subpar, Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz are joined by Ryan Fox fresh off his Open Championship win at Royal Birkdale. The 2026 Champion Golfer of the Year breaks down his Major winning birdie on 18, how he celebrated his career altering victory on Sunday night and what it was like traveling back to the states with not one, but two Claret Jugs.--A big thanks as always to our friends at Zone Nicotine. Bring the heat with the full spicy lineup from zone nicotine pouches—shop Spicy Strawberry, Spicy Mango, and Jalapeño Lime at ⁠Nicokick.com/zone⁠ and use code SUBPAR20 for 20% off your order.--Thank you to our partners at Ship Sticks for sponsoring this week's Subpar. Go to https://shipsticks.com and use the code SUBPAR20 to enjoy 20% off your first shipment.--Most guys will spend thousands fixing their golf swing before addressing their hair game. Make the hat optional with Nutrafol. Use code SUBPAR for $10 off + free shipping at https://Nutrafol.com

All right, here we go. Welcome back to another episode of subpar, Colt Nost, and Drew Stoltz. And the final major championship, the 154th Open Championship is in the books. And Ryan Fox is your champion golfer of the year. What a tournament this was, Sleez, and what a clutch performance by Ryan Fox going out there, birdie in the 72nd hole to get the job done. How about the set of stones on him? And how about the final major championship? I mean, we got eight months until we get, till we get,

until we get to Augusta is a long haul from here but this year or this last one had a little bit of everything we had a jam-packed leaderboard different guys taking the lead on Sunday uh we had multiple rules controversies which we will discuss in depth and we had just one of the all-time clutch finishes from Ryan Fox for a guy who would never BG had a top 10 in a major uh you sure as hell wouldn't know it from like 14 on I feel like every shot he hit was right where he was looking yeah it was it was awesome to watch. And obviously nobody was more zoned in at the Open Championship than Ryan Fox. So we're going to get to his performance and zoned in with our friends over at Zone Nicotine. But Fox, man, I just love it. He had so many bad breaks happen or just a couple of bad breaks

happened on that back nine. Didn't phase him one bit. He had the horrible lie on 15 or, yeah, on 15 the part three when he flagged a five iron, just barely missed covering, goes all the way against the back lip of the bunkers out there, had to play backwards. Gets it up and down for boge. 17 hits a 326-yard iron off the T on the par 5. Thought it was perfect. Found himself tied for the lead at that moment with Cameron Young, who was in the clubhouse at 9-100,

just trickles into the bunker. He has no stance at all. Chops it down there. Damn near made Bertie there. But then gets to the 18th T. Tied for the lead at the Open Championship, and he looks at his caddy, Dean Smith, and says,

Dean, let's go get it. We're going to attack here. We're going to try to make Bertie. We're going to try to win the. the Open Championship. He said if he made bogey, he could live with it. But he knew he doesn't get that chance very often, Sleaze, and he wanted to take advantage of that moment. And boy, did he ever go get it. He hit just a bullet drive down there, a sick nine iron within 10 feet as the group ahead was walking off the green, wasted no time, and then steps up there in 22 seconds and hits an 11-foot

birdie putt to change his life. And he drills it. And he is the open champion. What a moment for Ryan Fox. I mean, his pace of play is absurd. Very rarely will Sam Burns be in a group with somebody and be the slowest player. He's fast, too. That was great to see two of the fastest players on tour playing in the final group of a major championship. Like, it can be done. You can play fast and you can play good. But dude, there's something about Ryan Fox. Like I mentioned, no top tens in a major championship leading up this. Only two PJ Tour wins prior to this. He'd won a bunch around the world. But, quote, like, go back to Canada in his last win. The third. three would in the playoff, which at that point he called the best shot that he'd ever hit in his

career. He sacks up in that moment. The last four or five holes coming down in this championship. There's something about this guy. I don't know if it's his upbringing with his dad, the rugby playing, playing other sports, but like he loves the moment. And like when he needs it the most, he gets the best version of himself. And that's a really, really hard thing to do. It was a refreshing when I think for a number of reasons, Colt, like I see Ryan Fox and I see kind of like the anti-modern day player, right? He got a homemade golf swing. His grips getting a lot of attention. No teacher would ever teach what Ryan Fox does in his golf swing. And yet here he is. He's a major champion. If he'd gone to some of these big-name coaches at age 13, you might never

have heard of Ryan Fox after this. We mentioned his pace of play. Super fast. Doesn't use the aim point. He turned pro when he was 25 years old, crazy late given today's age, right? Like he's kind of the anti-everything and he goes out and gets it done. And it's fun to see. It just also shows like that golf course firm, fast, true links. Like it's so different than what we see weekend we got on the PJ tour. When you change the style of play and like what's rewarded, you can get some different winners out there. It's just not all bomb it, hit it all through the air and then try to make some putts. It was just class. act and he hit, he hit shot after shot down the stretch like he'd been there a million times.

You know, we, we had Frank Nablo on our serious XM show earlier today, and he brought up a great point. Like, you just think back over the history of time, like, not a lot of people birdie the 72nd hole to win a major championship, especially not a final hole like Royal Burkdale. That was so difficult. Just four birdies before Ryan Fox went in there on the day on that 18th hole, and he goes out there and does it. I mean, it was one of the best played holes in major championship history. You can't argue with that. It was so demanding. There were so many bogies being made, and he steps up there and hits three of the best shots of his life and gets to hoist the claret jug at the end of the day. But I love the pace of play talk. You mentioned him growing up

playing rugby. He said pretty much every sport he played growing up was a reactionary sport. So he took that into golf. It's C shot, hit shot. It's pretty simple. It doesn't look like he's out there rushing. He just gets his information and he steps up and he hits the golf ball. He was asked afterwards if he's ever been paired with anybody that plays faster than him. And he said, yeah, one guy. And he said the guy's name and I'd never heard of him. He said it was very early on in his career. He said literally the guy would hit while your ball was in the air. He was that fast. So obviously he is very unique when it comes to that. But it is so refreshing to see. I had so many people yesterday text me like, because they don't know a lot about Ryan Fox, right? They know he's a great player. They've heard of

him. But they don't know a lot about him. They're like, what's he like? Do we like Ryan Fox? I'm like, Do we like Ryan Fox? We love Ryan Fox. He is a dude's dude. Like he's the guy you want to play 18 holes with in about three hours and then go have a few beers with after the round and just sit and bullshit and have a good time. And he doesn't take himself too seriously. He cares a lot about his job, obviously. But off the golf course, he's just a normal dude.

He's a husband. He's a father of two. And he's just very laid back. And I love the guy. I think he's awesome. I think this is going to take him to a whole other level. I can promise you one thing. He's going to be on Jeff Ogilvy's President's Cup team for the first time here in just a couple of months at Medina.

He got, I thought he should have got picked last time in Canada Sleeze. He got passed over. He ain't getting passed over this time. That man will be putting on the shield for the international squad at the President's Cup. Yeah, that thing's inked right there. Like, you know, you go back to those breaks that he got on 15 and 17. Like how many guys when they get those breaks are going to throw their hands up in there? ball just trickled half a yard in here if it was you know if it was half a yard short i'd be reaching this

thing in two with an iron 15 he was a half a yard from having a great look at birdie might have even bounced up there uh close he didn't do shit he just got up there saw his ball in the bunker in 15 pitched it backwards got up and down that's probably the that was probably the whole right there like if he makes double there he's probably done at that point but then he bounces back then he gets another win on 17 and honestly going into it cold when he was on 17th he was like he makes birdie here He hits this fairway makes Bertie here. He's going to win the golf tournament. If he doesn't and has to go to 18 to make par, like, I don't think he's going to get it done.

And then he got the bad break, hit it in there close, missed it for Bertie, and then still sacked out. I mean, 18, Colt, trying to win for the first time. Like, how many guys just hit iron there? Let's just try to give myself a look, but let's just try to take bogey out of the equation. Worst case, we go to this playoff. The other guys have been sitting around for two and a half hours at that point. I'll take my chances in a playoff, especially. on that T-shot, which is such a narrow slot.

If you're missing those fairway bunkers, like Cam Young did it. He had a great drive, and it just went into that fairway bunker. And he couldn't get it out, registered sideways, ends up making bogey. Like the gratifications if he didn't pull off that T-shot were big. You could even go back to Saturday when he had a chance to shoot 61. I mean, he was probably a foot from where Cam Young's ball was on Sunday,

Ryan Fox on Saturday. And he took that shot on, and damned if he didn't hit it on the green. I think the only guy in the field that hit that green in regulation from that bunker, if I'm not mistaken, for the entire week. Yeah, that was a hell of a shot. I'll tell you one that I don't think gets talked about enough, just because it was where it was in the round. But I think this was a massive moment as well,

because we saw a few guys in the groups before Ryan Fox on the ninth hole, drive it up there short of the green, end up hitting it over the green, and really struggling with that third shot going up the bank, hitting it 30 feet by and just two putting and making bogey coming back. Well, Ryan Fox hits it just over the green, over the green, makes the one mistake you can't afford to make. He left it short.

It basically comes back down to his feet. And then he chipped that one to six feet and made it for bogey. I thought that was a huge moment heading into the back nine there. Yeah, no question. I mean, he had a couple, like the shots down the shirt. I think the up and down on 14, VG, from that left Fescue that he got it down there to kick it. Like, that ball easily could have rolled down into that little flat part.

And he'd been chipping just from the short grass. And it would have been a lot easier chip. But to go up in the fescue, they zoomed in on it. He didn't even ground his club because I think he was worried about the ball moving, clipped it perfectly down there, got that up and down. And then, yeah, the putts coming down the stretch, too. That's why, like, I mean, the way he did it, it looked like a guy who'd been in that situation a bunch of times.

Normally, there's like a learning curve, closing out A golf tournaments in general, but B major championships. And it's just like, he did everything he needed to do to win that thing. I don't think he missed a shot coming down the stretch. And the shitty breaks that he did get, he just took it in. stride, didn't let him affect him, and went about his business. I mean, it was a masterclass that last five or six holes on how to play golf, how to handle yourself in that situation. Absolutely. Well, that's enough from us. Let's hear from the man himself, the champion

golfer of the year, Ryan Fox on subpar. All right, what a dude we have joining us here today. He's about 48 hours removed from one of the most clutch finishes you'll ever see at a major championship. He is your champion golfer of the year. Ryan Fox, that's got to feel good to hear, doesn't it? Yeah, it does. It's going to take a little while to get used to it, to be honest. I'm still not sure the whole thing is real. I mean, yeah, it's going to take a while to process it. But yeah, I've got the carrot jug sitting behind me, as you can see. So it definitely did happen. I was going to say, yeah, that is real right there behind you. And that's the proper one, too. I love that. That is the proper one.

Before we get going on the final day there, I just want to know Sunday night, you said you filled it up with some rather nice things. Tell us about the party on Sunday. Yeah, it was pretty cool. To be honest, obviously there's a lot of formalities to go through. And I filled it up a little bit early. As soon as I got upstairs in the players lounge, I think there's a video of it going around somewhere. I got a glass of red wine and said, well, can I tip the rest of the bottle in the claret jug? And they said, yep, no problem.

But then I had to go take more photos downstairs in the club out. So they had to tip the wine out of the claret jug, which is a bit of a shame. for the wine but yeah we we had a few drinks upstairs i had a bunch of my team um friends come up which was very cool i feel the golfer stay dan hilly minueli um tom d't treur were all up there um if i keep naming names are going to forget people so i won't do that but yeah there was i don't know how many 40 of us up there all my team were there everyone was having photos and you know drinking out of the claret jug and then we basically got our last rights saying if you guys don't leave now there's no cars taking you back so we went back to our house in burpedale and a few people

carried on um i decided pretty early that i had a four-fifteen car in the morning and i was just going to not go to sleep so uh i think overall it finished up around 3 a m um i've got some videos that will not see the light of day of various people drinking wine out of the claret jug a few people were very worse for where the next day. But like it was just a great experience. And, yeah, like, dream come true. And, yeah, you're getting to drink red wine out of the claret jug for, it feels like what it's designed to do, really.

I mean, what a cool night that must have been for you. And then I got to ask this, too, before we get to the actual golf portion of the interview. I've seen it on multiple channels here. You flew home yesterday with the claret judge. in the overhead bin, and I believe it's reported you were sitting one row behind Cam Young. Can you confirm that's true? And was there any, was that awkward at all putting the cleric jug?

No, it was. I actually, I walked in to check in, like, the time of that had been like 5.30 in the morning. Obviously not in a very good way. And I walk straight to the line for BA flying from, well, Manchester to London, then London to Miami. and everything else. And Minwee and Dan Hillea were there as well. They were on the same flight.

So, yeah, Cam was awesome about it. I mean, obviously he had a heck of a round on Sunday. He had a really good chance. And, yeah, look, he was asking me questions about what the protocols were. And to be honest, I didn't really have too many answers for them. And, yeah, it just ended up. I was sitting right behind him on the plane. And, yeah, I had two big cases in the overhead lockers.

I probably annoyed a few of the other people on the plane, taking up a bit to my. much of the space, but I feel like I wasn't going to be the person that loses the claret jug and puts it in the cargo hold. Yeah. It was, it was, it was pretty, pretty strange, to be honest. Yeah, you're the open, you're the champion golf of the year. You can do what you want, especially the day after.

I was going to ask, actually, because we hear so many rules about the green jacket when you win the masters. Is there any rules with the claret jug that you know of? I'll probably get myself in trouble, but I don't know. Okay, perfect. I got given an envelope afterwards of something. I'm not quite sure where that envelope is.

I hope my agent has it because he was the last one left in the house on Monday morning. So yeah, look, as far as I know, I was given two cases, one with the replica, one with the real one. Got told the real one

needs to come back to St. Andrews next year. You've got it for a year. The one is mine for life, which is pretty cool. and have at it, basically. Hell yeah. Yeah, I think, yeah, there will be a fair bit of wine drunk out of the claret jug over the next year or so, especially when I get back to New Zealand and catch up with all my

best mates down there and family down there as well. Yeah, it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission, you know, so you do whatever the hell you want with that thing. Before we get back to Ryan Fox, a quick note from Nutreful. Most golfers have no problem investing in their game, but when it comes to their hair, they just hope for the best. If yours isn't looking like it used to, don't just hide it. Treat the root cause.

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Find out why Nutraful is the best-selling hair growth supplement brand at Nutraful.com spelled N-U-T-R-A-F-O-L.com promo code subpar. Now, back to Ryan Foxx. But let's go back to that Sunday, that final round. I'm always curious to know because this is your first time playing late, late, late on a major afternoon tea time. A, how'd you sleep Saturday night? Saturday night and what did you do Sunday leading up to that tea time to just stay occupied? Yeah, I didn't sleep great on Saturday night, as you can imagine.

It probably doesn't help that the UK doesn't have any air conditioning anywhere. Oh, my room. Yeah, it was brutal all week. So like tossing and turning trying to get comfortable anyway and then, you know, your brain's racing and all the what-ups, both good and bad, you know, like what if I actually win tomorrow or what if I shoot 82 tomorrow? So there was a little bit of everything going through my head and then, you know, got up in the morning, finished packing my bag. I knew regardless I was going to have an early start on Monday.

And then we went down to a local coffee shop. Just had breakfast down there. And I was traveling solo the last couple of weeks. So I actually had my Xbox with me. So I had like a couple of hours to kill. And I'm like, I can't watch the golf. Like I'll do my head. And if I watch the golf right now, like it'll see all the bad places I potentially can.

can hit it today. So I played a little bit of Xbox just to kill the time for an hour and then he jumped in the car, went to the golf course. And once I actually started like the warm up and everything, like it started to feel a bit more normal. But yeah, that weight to actually tee off on Sunday was like a little bit torturous, to be honest. It's a long time, especially when, you know, you wake up 5 a.m. with butterflies in your stomach and you can't get back to sleep. I got to know, what was the game of choice? Yeah. I played a game. game called Starfield, which is just a big one-player game. I'm no good at gaming. Like, I just like the big story games and run around. And I have no urge to get like utterly demoralized

by like 12-year-old kids that are crazy good at it. So I don't go anywhere near online gaming. I'll be honest. You know, I've known you the last couple of years, talk to you on the range all the time. If you would have said pick a guy that travels with an Xbox, you would not have been like near the top of the list. No, no. And to be honest, I don't normally. It was purely because the last couple of weeks was by myself. And I'm not a massive movie guy. I don't really watch that many shows. Like, the idea of the gaming is to, like,

actually be able to interact with it. And it kind of helps a jet lag too. Like, if I sit there and watch a movie, I fall asleep. But if I can sit there and play Xbox for a couple hours and actually somehow still stay awake. All right. Fair enough. I like that.

Let's go back to that final round, though. Because I think a lot of people talk about your back nine, obviously the incredible golf birding for the last six. and how resilient you were with a couple of bad breaks. They're on 15 and 17. But I thought one of the most important shots you hit on that Sunday was the second chip shot on 9 from over the back of the green. Yeah, that, I mean, that thing's got to go on south there pretty quickly.

Like, that was no good down there. Yeah, I actually thought I had a really good T shot. I don't know how close it was to covering the long grass, but I'd never taken that on until Sunday and didn't quite know the line, but felt like almost didn't have a choice. how it was playing. And then, you know, got a little bit of a flyer from that first shot short of the green. I ran over the green and I had nothing the first chip on a little downslope trying to kind

of bump it into the slope and I almost got it right. And then, you know, good old Lynx golf gives you this exact same shot all over again. And I didn't have to think too much about what I was trying to do. Just try to get it up the hell, give myself a chance at bogey and it ended up a little closer than what I probably thought I could get it and made the putt and kind of walked off nine. It was the same on 15 as well. Like, bogey wasn't a bad score there. Like, you know, I could have, both of those holes,

I could have played my way out of the tournament pretty quickly. And, yeah, they were two very, very good bogeys. Yeah, that bogey on 15, I mean, to get that break that you got on a shot that could have half a yard more and you're probably staring at 30 on that? That was the one probably for me when you made that bogey. I was like, dude, this feels like it might happen. Was there a specific shot for you anywhere on that back nine? You kind of get that feeling.

We're like, all right, today, this might be my day. Um, 13, I think was the one that did it. Um, yeah, I, I played 12 awfully, um, you know, made a, made a good up and down from that front bunker after almost missing a nine iron and then get up on 13 and go, well, I'm a couple back here. I've got to take this on. Oh, I feel like I've got to take it on. I've done it all week. And I hit that t-shot absolutely perfect. Hit lob wedge in there. Um, and then made the part, but it was that, like, that T-shot was like, okay, yeah. Like, I still felt the pressure. I was still nervous as hell. And, I executed the shot and go, okay, made the birdie. That was like, I'm, you know, I've got a chance here. I played 14 really well, felt like 15, you know, I had a really good T shot on 15. I had exactly where I wanted to and, you know, got a bit stuffed there. And that'll be the best bogey I'll ever make in my life probably on that hole. And then, yeah, those last three holes I didn't, felt like I didn't miss a shot on.

Yeah, absolutely striped. And I want to go to 18 because I just, I love what you said to your caddy, Dean on the T. Like, basically, let's go get it. Like, this is our opportunity. and a lot of people I don't feel like would step up and feel that way. But I just, I respect you and how much you believed in yourself to go like, look, I don't get a ton of chances at this.

Let's go attack and let's go win this thing and you did it. That's honestly what I thought. I actually thought, like, board of Cam Young at the players a couple of times on that back on. Like, when he hit that t-shot on 18, like, I think he said, I'm going to hit the best t-shot of my life. Like, it was kind of like that. It was like, I'm not going to get many chances at this.

I might only ever get one chance of this. And I was like, I want to go down swinging at least. Like if I make double on the last trying to make a birdie, like I'll probably live that down better than trying to play really conservative to sneak in a playoff. And then, you know, I'd say if you hit firebine off that tee and lay up short of everything, like, am I going to hit fire line up near the green and get it up and down for par or hit it on the green and two part from 50 foot? Like probably unlikely. Like, there was no way I was hitting a 50 foot punt inside.

five foot of the hole. Like I was that nervous coming down the last, that last hole there. And it was just, okay, well, basically sack up and give it a go. And, yeah, like, I hit three perfect shots down 18 there. Sure did. Yeah. If you were nervous, it didn't show watching you on TV. I mean, it looked like every shot was going exactly where you look. And you're such an aggressive player anyway, Ryan, like, I don't want to say it's easier coming down the stretch, but being that, that's kind of the way you play golf. Like, you go for. You are aggressive. Did it make a decision making easier. Like there's not even any thought of me like should we hit an iron. Should we hit it to the middle of the green? Like you, it seemed like you were kind of firing it

black. Yeah, I did. I mean, it was the whole back nine. It was like I'm trying to win this golf tournament. The only way I don't think. Yeah, like, if the situation is different, you've got a four shot lead and you're trying to protect it. Well, yeah, there's there's times to play away for flags. But I was I was still chasing at that point. Obviously, Cam was in the clubhouse. I knew kind of what I had to do. And I was like, okay, well, go out and give it a crack. And as I I'd rather go down swinging than go down trying to protect the top 10 in a major or whatever it was. Even though I've never been in that situation before, you know, I didn't really know what to think. It just go out and try to hit my shots.

And, you know, I executed, especially those last six hours, I executed everything exactly how I wanted to. It was I look back on it now and I'm like trying to put myself in that situation. I'm like, I don't know how I did it, like it, but it felt all right at the time. for whatever reason. Yeah, I felt better than I thought I was going to feel. And you look so comfortable. And I mean, I just love watching you go about it because not many people Bertie the 72nd hole of a major championship to win.

Like you're in rare company right there. But I got to ask you about the putt because in some of your interviews afterwards, you said, you know, as kids, we always dream about making a putt to win a major championship. But nothing can actually prepare you for that moment because I just need to know exactly like what you were thinking. You didn't think much because you hit it in 22. seconds, but what was the body feeling like? The body was everywhere.

The bit that got me, so while Sam was reading his putt, like, I'd done all my work before Sam had hit his putt. Like, I make sure I'm ready to go when it's my turn. Right. So I'd read the putt and I go over the back of the green there, like behind the hole. And it hit me at the time, like, I'm not going to repeat exactly what went through my head, but something along the lines of I've got a punt to when they open. and I almost lost it at that point.

Like, it was pretty overwhelming. And it was kind of like, how am I going to hit this putt? And I just had to kind of back off and go, okay, well, like, what do you? So not back up, like back, just get to the back of the green. Stop looking at the put. Just go, hey, it's just a putt. Like, take a couple of deep breaths. Go look at it again.

See what you see and try to hit it online. And if it goes online, great. And then sort of walking into the ball, it's like the only thing I didn't want to do is be an idiot and absolutely gun it. I wanted to try to make the putt obviously, but you don't want to lip out high side and have three and a half foot to get back in a playoff like that. That wouldn't be a lot of fun.

So it's over the ball. My hands are like this. It felt like they were like that. I watched it on the coverage last night for the first time properly, and I looked fine. As you said, like I didn't feel fine. I was all over the place. And you just, yeah, get up and just go,

just get the right speed like i'd read the puck relatively straight like it was a little bit of right to left early and then probably hung on at the end a little bit and it somehow did what i i saw it hung on that left edge and it was the right speed like if it was going a little bit faster it might have looked out on that left side but um you know i don't don't care about that anymore it didn't have didn't have to go in the middle it just had to finish in the hole and and it did and my caddy dean probably said the coolest thing to me a few hours after we're probably a couple of drinks deep at this point he goes foxy you had you might only ever have one part in your career in your life to win a major championship and you just eff and hold it i was like yeah i haven't thought

of it that way like that's i might never get that opportunity again and i were pretty proud of myself to actually pull it off in that moment that's awesome i think it'll go down as like you like colt said you don't see many birdies on the 70s second to win major championship championships. I can think of a couple off my head and this one's going to go right in there with it that are easy to remember. And you're talking about your interactions with Dean, Ryan. Like most players and caddies, final round of a major in the hunt, the emphasis is normally, let's slow everything down. Let's get slower, walk slower, go through your routine slower. You seem to do the opposite and speed up. Like, is that by design? That's just me, to be honest. Like, I'm not trying to put anyone off by playing

fast or anything like that. Like my brain just works fast. I was in a place where making like it was easy to make clear decisions. Like if you listen in on 17, Dean and I had a little bit of a discussion on what to hit off the T. Like between four iron, two on, I'd hit driver the day before trying to take it on and not pull it off and didn't feel that comfortable about it. Sort of just going, okay, we hit four on and maybe can't go at the green. If I hit two on, I do bring the bunkers into play, but at least it's an easy second shot to give it a go. And obviously, you know, that T-shot rolled half a yard too far and ended up in that bunker. But like the discussion's there when it needs to be there.

But Dean and I have always been the same. Like when it's like 18 was almost a no-brainer, like the second shot. Just stand there. I had 160 meters, what 176 yards or something like that? It's just a 9-9. I hit 9-150 in the air. It's a little bit of help. It's, you know, I'm jacked up.

So it's going to go pretty far anyway and just pick my line and hit the shot. It was a pretty easy club to pull. It was a pretty easy line to pick. I was trying to make birdie. Like, you know, obviously not taking the bunker on. I just wanted to work it in there with the wind with a little fade. And, you know, I hit it exactly where I wanted to hit it. But, you know, I feel like even in this and even in that situation, the decision making wasn't that hard.

The execution was the hard bit, but the decision making to actually hit the shot. And I just stayed in my routine. But, you know, of everything I do in golf, especially as big. being fast. Like there's no point trying to change it coming down, you know, the last couple of holes of a major. Like, just be me and I was lucky enough that it worked. Well, we're so happy for you, man. We know you're a busy man and you got a lot of these to do today. Last thing before you leave. Yeah, your next start will be the playoffs. Will you be bringing the Claire jug on the road? And if so, can we share a drink out of it, please?

I need to go through that, but and find out if there is any protocol for it. But yeah, I think The Claret Jog probably will be coming on the road. It's not quite the green jacket, but it's in terms of rules. So I think I probably can bring it and share it around, although it's probably not as easy to carry around as a green jacket. It does come in a really big box. So yeah, it's it'll be coming. And I think we can probably organize a way to do that.

Yes, I cannot wait. Well, man, we are so proud of you. So happy for you. You're the champion golfer of the year. Enjoy all the celebrations, my man. Thank you so much for joining us. here today. Thanks guys. Appreciate it. You got it. Thank you, Foxy. See, brother.

All right, that was the champion golfer of the year. Ryan Fox joined us on subpar. So cool for him to sit down with us a few minutes. Sleeves, with everything he's got going on. I can't imagine what a whirlwind this has been for him. I mean, just two days ago, he wins the Open Championship. Now he's sitting down with us spending a little time. It was awesome, man. What a great dude he is.

Yeah, he's about as good as they come. And to do it at like 39, too. after grinding out, turning pro so late. Like there's just not many of those, there's getting to be fewer and fewer of those types of players out here with just how young, how talented, how, I mean, just blatantly, how good everybody is nowadays. It's hard to go beat those guys at any age,

but much less at 39. And I don't know if there's more to come or not, but that was, that one's a special one and puts him in a different tier down there in New Zealand. Yep, just past Frank Nobalo. Just one slot. One slot.

lot. I wanted to look this up real quick because I'm interested to see this. You look back. I got a little theory now next time the Open Championships heads to Royal Burkdale. You'll remember this, right? Of course. How about some of the past winners there? You have to be an all-time nice guy to win at Royal Burkdale. Marco Mira, Ian Baker Finch, Padraig Harrington, Leach Revino, Arnold Palmer, and now Ryan Fox. Class across the board right there. Put that in your back, pocket when we make our bets next time it's at burkdale we'll be sure remember that i'm sure probably some kids are in junior high right now that we'll be betting on absolutely but man it was so cool him to sit now with us uh so happy for ryan fox unfortunately he did withdraw from the 3m

was hoping to see him this week up in minnesota uh but totally understand once a week off to celebrate with the family and speaking of minnesota sleaze i'm heading up there 3m got two days of golf with my man fernie you think i'm taking the clubs on the plane Not if you care about them. Absolutely right. They treat you right back. And right now, Shipsticks is offering our listeners 20% off your first shipment when you go to shipsticks. com and use the code subpar 20.

Go to shipsticks.com, use the code subpar 20 to get 20% off your first shipment and save yourself to hassle this golf season. That's S-H-I-P-S-T-I-C-S dot com. Make sure you use code subpar-part 20 so they know we sent you. Speaking of that, my brother came out this past week, BG, we played a little golf. We had a tight connection to get up here to Flagstaff. Guess what? Clubs didn't make it. Clubless for two days.

Come on, Jeff. I had to play out of my bag, which is way too much man for him, of course. We don't have the beef to swing these bad boys. Come on, Jeff. Maybe use shipsticks code subpar. Wake up. Yeah. I think he was trying to squeeze in some late practice.

They ended up biting him in the ass. That's why you don't practice. Never thought you'd be the smarter brother, but here you are. Well, I'm. of change. All right. Let's get into our recap of the Open Championship a little more because obviously Ryan Fox was a story, but there was a few little side stories going on this past week, and specifically Friday afternoon at Royal Burkdale, Bryson DeShambo, who gets in at 7 under par, looks like he's going to be in the final pairing heading into the weekend, but not so fast,

my friend, because the R&A decided to take a look back at number five, which is the drivable par four there at Royal Burkdale. And he flared it way right over into four. The Fescue went in there stomping around a little aggressively, a little carelessly, and it wound up being a two-shot penalty for improving his, basically his playing situation, whether it's his back swing, his stance, whatever it was. Bryson was not too happy, actually tried to call President Donald Trump to have him speak to the RNA to see if he could change this ruling. The RNA said we don't need to speak to President Trump, go about your business,

but he went out there to the fifth hole, showed everything he did was obviously very animated not happy at all with the decision. Threaten to not play the rest of the tournament. Stayed on the range until after 10 p.m. at night, making the rest of the field wait quite some time to see what their tea time was going to be for the third round. But it was a very bizarre situation with Bryson over there at the Open Championship.

Are we confirmed that he said, I want to call Donald Trump? Is this a real? Like, I saw some tweets go out. I was like, I thought it was parody. I thought it was a joke. Like is this a, did he actually be like, hey, hold on right here. Let me, somebody wants to talk to you.

Jeff Shackleford, who is a very well respected, long time journalist covering the game of golf, writes a journal every single week that people subscribe to. A lot of people subscribe to. He confirmed it. What's it going to do? Hey, Donald. I got somebody on the line. They said I trampled some grass down.

I want you to talk to him. Get this. What kind of loony tune land are we living in where that's your first thought is like, I don't like this ruling. Let me call the president. president. That combined with the, I don't know if I'm going to play tomorrow's stuff, Colt. This is where he brings so much of this stuff on himself. We're going to get into the drop, whether or not it would have happened to, you know, if it was somebody else and not just Bryson.

But dude, those are the two type of things right there. Like the, I don't know if I'm going to play. I'm going to go hit balls till midnight and I'm going to make the rest of the tournament wait on me to make a decision. That's crazy. Like that is so selfish. I just can't, like he brings a lot of this heat on himself, whether, you disagree or agree with the ruling that was made. It could have been handled so much better, in my opinion. And then after the fact, of course he played. I never expect him to not play.

He had a chance to win a major championship. But some of the shit that he does, dude, it's just like, even if you're a Bryson fan, it's like, really, dude, you're going to just, like, hold everybody up. Really, dude, you're going to call the president, because you disagree with a ruling that's being made. I just don't understand what goes to his head and some of this stuff. I'm with you on that. Listen, I like Bryson.

I've known Bryson for a long time. His fellow SMU Mustang, the way he does handle some things, I do not agree with. The calling, trying to call the president, I don't know what the hell he was going to do. I mean,

we're over here in England. Whatever. I mean, Jesus. I'll say this. When he threatened not to play, I was almost like, because I do think a lot of what he does is an act.

And I gave you the exact. on our serious XM show, like walking through the crowd to the first T on Sunday, you know, high five and everyone, taking selfies with some kids, sign an autographs. I'm like, dude, you've been to a million tour events. You know there's a, there's a route for players to get to where they can just clearly walk to the first T or to the range, whatever it is, make it easy as possible on them where they don't run into a bunch of the gallery. He walks right through the middle. Why? Because he gets attention for it. Okay. He loves the attention. That's why when he said, I might not play this weekend. I was sneaky thinking, like, you know what, he's crazy enough.

to do this. Because you know what they're going to talk about? All weekend long is me. It's me and how I'm not playing, how I'm three shots back, and I don't think I should have got that penalty. I should be one back, and I'm not playing. They're going to talk about me for two days. They're going to crown a champion at the end, but they're still going to be talking about me. That's why I was almost like, this honestly probably could happen. I was hoping it wouldn't. I didn't. He still had a chance to win a major championship. He went on to finish tied for 14th, But look, I'm not going to defend him. I will say I think this rule is very interesting.

Because if you've played any open championship golfer, you played anywhere with some long fescue, like it's a tricky situation. Like you're walking through some very thick long grass, you know, stepping over things, stepping on top of things. They find his ball. He gets over there. And I will say, it did not look good on TV.

I thought when I first thought he walked in, I was like, damn, that's an aggressive way to get in there. And it's very close to the ball. But without a camera behind him going down the line to see exactly, you know, where his back swing was and all this, I thought it was kind of a tough judgment call. Like I felt you needed to see a little more evidence to give him a two-shot penalty. I also am not 100% convinced that every player would have been treated the same exact way. I think Bryson with how polarizing he is, a lot of people love him, a lot of people hate him,

everything that's gone on within the last several years. I'm not totally sure if that had been Scotty Sheffler or Roy McElroy, if they would have been handled the same way, if they would have gotten a penalty. And like you said, Bryson brings a lot of this on himself. But I just, I thought it was a very tough call to make to penalize somebody in a major championship win. Like we've said all along, every shot that he hits is going to be seen on TV. And I think a lot of people, when they're in the Fescue, kind of go about their business the same way Bryson did right there. I brought up, you know, I know it's a tough subject, but like Wyndham Clark at the U.S. Open on the ninth hole,

the way he made the practice swing and then made the awkward step kind of behind his ball and took a practice swing. If I'm Bryson, I'm kind of just like, what's the difference in what I did and what he did? One was a penalty, one wasn't. And that's where I think the big problem is, is it's not treated the same for every single player in the field. Yeah, not everyone's under the same level as scrutiny, guys, who's every shot is on TV. You can slow-mo it, you can do it. You go back to Rom at Muirfield a few years back, called and the flop shot that he hold. and oh, did the ball move when he grounded, when he sold his club? And it's like, we zoom in and freeze frame it and frame by frame and draw, like, nobody else, how many other people hit it there that day?

And how many other people's ball probably did the exact same things ROM did, but nobody got a penalty except him. I think to the Bryson ruling, a letter of the law, the way the rule is written, I think it was a penalty. And I think they got it right. Okay. I think he could have, should have been more careful with where he stepped, how he stepped. I don't necessarily think there was a need.

intent there. But like we've seen it before, every move you make in these situations, especially if you're him, going to be analyzed, scrutinized from every angle possible. But it looked like to me, the back's ring area was improved from when he got there. And the way the rule reads is it reads, you must take the least intrusive path to playing your shot. And I don't think there's any argument that you could say what he did was the least intrusive. On top of that, I'm surprised that the penalty was actually issued because it's a rule that's very rarely called also extremely subjective we even heard from the players you know rory got up there and said i was sitting there watching with a bunch of other players and immediately we were like

uh that looks weird that looks like something's up and then you had other guys you know gotty shreffler max homa and number of them were like i don't think there was enough there so even on the player's side they don't agree it's so subjective and the fact that there were probably dozens of players out there they're hitting the fescue that did similar things this week completely unchecked and of course unpenalized. Like, I don't like that. And I'm still kind of uncertain as to how it was discovered that they needed to review that. I heard it was a social media post alert at first, which I thought we'd banished that all together. And then I also heard that wasn't the case. I'm still to this day, like not really sure how it was brought to their attention. But if it was via social media,

A, I thought that was gone and B, that's not how we should be policing it at all. I'm with you on that. There's no doubt. It's a tough call. it sucks. You know, Scotty Sheffler, when he was asked about it afterwards, he was playing alongside him. I would love to hear more of Scottie's thoughts on it because on Saturday, he said, I have a lot of thoughts, but I'm not going to get into them right now. There's a tournament on the line right now. And then afterwards, you know, he said, look, I've known Bryson for a long time. He's a lot of things. He's not a cheater. I don't know what his thoughts are about how he went about his business there. Was he trying to gain an advantage? I don't know. You can also just absolutely mess up. You're not trying

a game advantage, you can just, you mess up. I should have stepped there. Turned out, it helped me out, and I'm going to get a two-shot penalty. I don't think he's a cheater. I think the situation sucked, but it is what it is. It took Bryson basically out of the tournament. He hung around for a little bit on Saturday, but ultimately ended up finishing tied for 14th, but it was obviously a massive story over at the Open Championship.

There was also one on Sunday with Scotty Sheffler, 17, going for the green and two, hit it nine miles left behind a massive grandstand that apparently they deemed the whole area TIO, which is a temporary immovable obstruction. But where his ball ended up looked like in a massive area of just gorse bushes everywhere, which I've been over there. You don't really want to walk in their sleeves. First off, you damn sure probably aren't going to be able to try to attempt to hit a golf ball out of there.

But once again, the way the rule is written, if you are pretty much absolutely certain that a ball went into a TIO area, you don't even have to find it. and this pissed a lot of people off because Scottie didn't make that ruling. The rules official, the walking official right there was talking to him and Ted Scott and saying, hey, here's the deal. We know your ball went into that area. It's going to be behind TIO, or we consider all of this TIO, you're going to get free relief.

This is where you go. And damn, Scottie went over there, dropped his ball, ends up making birdie. And all of a sudden he's won back. And I'm like, if he birdies 18, this is going to be a problem. Oh, dude, it would have been just the most epic social media meltdown in the history. I mean, you could not have had another person that you would pick or a ruling that was so crazy to pour more fire or pour more gas on the fire that was the Bryson DeShambo situation. I mean, here's world number one. It looks like a lot of people like, see, look, he gets a free drop from there. I was confused, because I know the rule about TIO. And I also know the term like virtual certainty. But it was also my understanding. Like, the only time I've ever seen this happen before is like a ball gets blown into a grandstand, which happens all the time. But like someone grabs the ball and runs away, right? You see it even when it's not in TIO too.

And then people are like, no, dude, his ball was right here. Some kid just jacked it and took off. But like it was sitting right here. Okay, we're certain your ball was here. Now we grant you relief. I have never seen before TIO being like a place that like you mentioned, dude, that's unplated like you can't hit it out of there. They said they found the ball later on.

I don't know. Kind of. They didn't. That was weird. You just say, hey, we located it. It's like, all right, well, it doesn't really matter at this. point, but there is no world where you can tell me he was going to go get in there and be able to hit a golf shot forward towards the green. That's unplayable at absolute best, I think. I've never

seen TIO not just be like the grandstander if you're in play and being interfered with, not in a place that is virtually unplayable. I don't think, look, Scottie did not, let's be very clear. Scott didn't do anything wrong. That's the way the rule it is. They, they've ruled that area at TIO. He took his drop. That's what it is. I would just say, I don't think. the integrity of the rule is to have places where you literally couldn't get a club on a ball if you could even find it and then get rewarded with a drop. I think that was a miss unlike the setup or what the RNA theme TIO. I think it should have been the grandstand and not the gorse. Yeah, it was it was wild and he took advantage of it though. Sometimes the rules do help you,

but that was an interesting one, but it was an awesome week at the Open Championship. We're so pumped for Ryan Fox being the champion golfer of the year. Can I give you one last thing about the Open championship. I got a little bone to pick with our friend Smiley Kaufman. Oh, here we go. Let's start some feeds. So we got. Obviously, Johnson Wagner, Waggoo, the guy who originated creating these awesome shots after rounds is with us over at CBS now. And so Smiley Kaufman has stepped into that role about going out there. And I've had some questions throughout the year, because he's hit so many great shots when I watched live from. And I'm like, this is, how does he do this like just going cold turkey out there.

Well, Sleez, I turned it on the television to live from. I believe it was, I think it was Thursday afternoon after the first round. And he's on, I can remember, was it 12 or 13 that was the short part three. They moved up to like 115 one day or whatever. Yeah. Either right, it doesn't matter. That day, it was playing like 137 yards and it was giving guys fits. They couldn't get it around the hole.

They really struggled with it. And so they sent it out to Smiley, he's going to hit this shot. And Smiley knows, I've already called him out on this. This isn't picking on Smiley. This is just fuck with him a little bit. But he's got the ball teed up explaining the shot. And if you look at the coverage, I got a great picture of it, Sleeze.

Every single divot is sandfilled. Like, he's out there after play. So they've come through and they've already sandfilled all the divets. Well, about three feet to the right of his ball is a fresh divot. That's not a very pretty divot, by the way. And he steps up there and he hits it like 20 feet left of the whole, just beautiful. And they all go nuts.

Brando's calling him red light smiley. You just need the red light to come on. And I'm like, wait a second. There's a divot right there. This dude's practicing. He's only putting the good ones out there. I texted him. He admitted to it, by the way.

And I said, that's not right. Our man Wagyu, he did a cold turkey. He walked right out there and waited around until it was time for him to go. And he stepped up and he hit the shot. And they never turned out very often like Smiley's did, except for the bunker shot with Bryce and DeShambo. But Smiley, no more practice takes, damn it. Waggoo's out there firing chili peppers up,

Lee Jans's ass. Yeah, smile like empty and out a small buck. Hey, I don't blame him, by the way. If I was doing that job and they're like, I'm like, do I got a minute here? Can I fire a little practice one? I'd 100% do it. You don't want to look like an asshole. But it's hard to live up to what Wagyu did.

I mean, Smiley's good. Smiley's hitting like good shot in these things, like over and over, more or less. Wagyu, you never knew what you're going to get with that. I was part of the beauty. And to see some of the work, especially from a three-time tour winner, dude. It's like, how relatable is that? Like, oh, you guys all got the chipping gyps back at home? Guess what?

So does some of the guy that was, you know, considered amongst the best in the world for a while, too. I don't really blame him. It was fun watching him like stomp around in the weeds, dude, and try to like recreate this and they're going back. I mean, it was almost like, it was like a parody at times. And then they're going back and showing the replay of Bryson, just losing his mind out there that he could possibly be called for this thing.

It was just like that. And then to follow it up with. Scotty Sheffler getting like what I would call one of the craziest free reliefs that I've seen in golf on the same weekend was I was like dude this is this is a content dream and like the memes and the shit that were going around and then you get all the people posting like are there people posting like oh two shot penalty here and it'd be like Ricky Fowler literally just hitting it out of the rough yeah putting his club on the ball he's pulled his club behind the ball before he hit it which everyone I was like we're reaching like insane levels uh right now but it was like yeah

Yeah, it was God's gift this week, especially even leading up to it with Bryson. There was a bunch of shit between the YouTube comments from Brandel, you know, Nick Fowler saying he has zero strategy and then damned if he doesn't go out there and play good. And the one little sound butt I did hear from him, quote, after the first round, he used the word strategy like four times in a two-sentence stretch, which I actually kind of appreciate it. I just think it was a coincidence. Yeah, I did strategy today, really strategic around there. But yeah, I mean, ended up.

It got all the attention for a while, but not to take away from what Ryan Fox did, man. That was major marbles he showed at that place. Yeah, nonetheless, it was an awesome week at the Open Championship. I'm sad the majors are over, but congrats to Roy McElroy, Aaron Rye, Wyndham Clark, and Ryan Fox on being the major winners for 2026. It was awesome. It sucks that we're eight months away from Augusta,

but it is what it is. It was an awesome major season. Can't wait for another one in 2027. awesome setup next year too, by the way, Sleys. If you go through the major venues, you got Augusta National, St. Andrews, Pebble Beach, PGA Frisco.

That's it. That's it. All of the big dogs. Yeah. All of them. That's tough. That's it. That's the Grand Slam right there, dude. Hey, I hope we're all wrong, and PGA Frisco's badass. We'll see what happens. You never know.

But anyways, we'll talk about that at a later day. Quickly, before we get out of here, We're heading to the 3M, Minneapolis, Minnesota, great spot. TPC Twin Cities. They get huge crowds out there. World number one, Scotty Sheffler is playing. He's plus 280 favorite to win. I believe Kirk Kiddiama is the second favorite.

I mentioned Ryan Fox did with Drew, as did Jordan Spee, which is tragic. I thought we were going to have a really good field up there. But quickly, let's go through a few of our picks this week for our top 20 bet. A guy who's been playing great, just can't put four rounds together. I need you to play good on the weekend. Jackson Subur, you're right there, my man. You're so close. I feel it coming.

But when you're giving me two to one on my money on a top 20 for Jackson Subur, I'm taking it, Sleece. Yeah, coming off a week like he had where I thought he handled the first round lead really nicely, you know, look good. Like you said, his name keeps popping up. It's just not there Sunday. But he's putting the pieces together, top 20, love that. Going down the board to a top 10.

How about another Jackson and one that's coming off with top 10, the first of his professional career on the BGA tour. Don't need to say a whole lot about him. Jackson Coyvin for a top 10. Yeah, this should be a really good setup for him. It's not the longest course in the world. You got to make a lot of birdies. The man can roll is rock.

He's aggressive. I like that right there. Top 10 at plus 300. And then our winner just feels like a week. He should play well. Just kind of go under the radar. Everybody's still talking about the Open Championship. He's a quiet guy, but he's a hell of a player.

And you can get him at plus 2,500. Give us Maverick McNeely. the trophy at the 3M. There you go. There's three winners. Right there. Easy. All right.

Well, that's going to do it. Sleece, send us out of here with a little zone nicotine. It would be my pleasure, BG. Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. Underage sale is prohibited. And anyone who plays sports knows exactly when to lock in

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and an invigorating kick of heat. Experience spicy strawberries, spicy mango, and jalapeno lime. The full spicy lineup only at nicokic.com slash zone. Plus, get 20% off your order using promo code subpar 20. Load up for the summertime. I love that. Load up. It was great, man. What a great episode. Thanks again to Ryan Fox for taking some time out of his day to join us. Also, congrats to Spain on winning the World Cup. That was freaking awesome to watch. World Cup was fantastic. It was awesome. Needs me back in America really soon. I loved it. That's going to do it for us. Hope y'all enjoyed, and we'll talk to you on next week's subpar.