Royal Birkdale (Southport): There was no shortage of drama at the 154th Open which went down to the wire. Fewer than seven players reached at least eight under at one point and no one went past 11-under, before the roulette ball was stuck at 9-under for more than two and a half hours.Then, proudly but surely, it was down to the 10-under slot when New Zealand’s Ryan Fox holed the last hole from 12 feet to surpass American Cameron Young’s goal of nine under, which was set before Fox had reached his final turn.The son of former All Black rugby union player Grant Fox, the New Zealander birdied four of his last four holes in an impressive finish and from every turn, raced past the post and challenged despite a foul on the Par-3 15th. With the crowd gasping, Fox held on and pulled out of the 12 laps to leave Young stranded again.Fox (68) finished 10-under, as Young (64), who shot three under to nine under, was second. The leader of the night, Sam Burns (72), who did not do well to go to the Open to be with his baby daughter, went up to 11-under before taking a break and fell to three straight bogeys from the fourth hole to fall to eight and stayed there until the end to be third.Defending champion Scottie Scheffler (67) didn’t give up until the end. He needed an improbable bogey on the par-4 18th and finished with a bogey for seven under and tied for fourth with Southport-born Tommy Fleetwood seeing his luck run out after three bogeys in a row between the ninth and 11th rounds.
