Royal Birkdale (Southport): There was no dearth of drama at the 154 th Open which literally went to the wire. No less than seven players reached at least eight-under at some point and no one went past 11-under, before the roulette ball got stuck at nine-under for more than two and half hours.Then, first gingerly but surely, it slipped into the 10-under slot as New Zealand’s Ryan Fox holed the final putt from just under 12 feet to get past American Cameron Young’s clubhouse target of nine-under, which was set when Fox had not yet reached the turn in his final round.Son of former All Black rugby union international Grant Fox, the New Zealander found four birdies in his last four holes in a dramatic finish and from almost nowhere at turn, he raced past the post and opposition despite a bogey on the Par-3 15 th . With the crowd holding its breath, Fox held his nerve and putted out from 12 feet to leave Young stranded once again.Fox (68) finished 10-under, as Young (64), who rallied from three-under to nine-under, was second. Overnight leader, Sam Burns (72), who almost did not make it to the Open to be with his newborn daughter, rose to 11-under before lunging and plunging to three straight bogeys from fourth hole to fall to eightunder and stayed there till the end to be third.Defending champion Scottie Scheffler (67) never gave up till the end. He needed an impossible eagle on Par-4 18 th and ended with a bogey for a seven-under and was tied fourth with Southport born Tommy Fleetwood seeing his chances evaporate after three bogeys in a row in the middle of the round from the ninth to the 11th .
