Open Championship: Ryan Fox on attention, All Blacks and Auckland adventures with the Claret Jug
Awarded the Claret Jug after winning the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale last week, there was a touch of confusion as Ryan Fox was given two cases on his way out of the clubhouse.
It was about 10pm when golf’s newest major winner and his friends were told there would not be a lift back to their house if they left any later, and the 39-year-old departed with the Claret Jug – from which the group had already been enjoying the taste of red wine – and a smaller replica in his possession.
The only instruction – return the real one to The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (R&A) at the 2027 Open Championship, which is being held at the famed Scottish links course.
“Honestly, they gave us no instructions. Like, all I’ve done is thrown some water in there, swish it around and tip it out. I don’t know if I’m supposed to like shove something down there and give it a clean-out, like I don’t know,” New Zealand’s fourth major champion said.
“There was no like, ‘oh, you can’t do this with it’ or ‘be careful with it’. It’s just like, whatever, bring the real one back next year to St Andrews. And I was like, ‘which one’s which?’ ... when you’re a little bit drunk, there wasn’t that much difference between the older case and the new case, to be honest.
“So when I opened it, it was pretty obvious the replica one is about 90% the size. It’s a little bit smaller, it’s got all the engraving on it, it’s perfect – but it’s a whole lot shinier, it had a little bit of protection around it compared to this thing. So, it was easy to tell them apart.
“But yeah, that Sunday night, it was kind of strange, if you compare it to, say, the Masters and the green jacket and all the rules that you have around that. I felt like it was the other way. In a good way, like we still have some terms and conditions and stuff to do, but it’s more about looking after it and respecting it and stuff like that and anything commercial just to run by the R&A, which is pretty obvious, but it’s nice that they’re so liberal with it and no one had any issue with me pouring red wine in it as soon as I possibly could and I’m safe to say there’s been a fair bit go through it in the last week or so.”
In the week since, Fox’s friends and family have put the Claret Jug to great use, and that continued upon his return to New Zealand as he brought the famed golf trophy home to celebrate – including a long Sunday night celebration at Osteria Uno in Birkenhead.
“It was a proper night ... I ruined a lot of Mondays, which I was more than happy with, including my own.”
Fox also paid a visit to the All Blacks, taking the Claret Jug in to celebrate with them and doing a Q&A with golf aficionado Jordie Barrett before the group left for their tour of South Africa.
Several players took the opportunity to drink some beer from the jug, with Fox returning the honour after the All Blacks invited him to drink from the Bledisloe Cup last year after retaining it at Eden Park.
“I did forget early on that when you pour beer, it kind of fizzes everywhere. We were just dumping red wine in it [last] Sunday night and not really worrying about it. So, yeah, I got a little excited early and it overflowed with the froth of the beer.
“But the boys were really excited. Obviously no one went crazy, they’ve got a pretty big job to do, but I don’t think management was going to have an issue with them having a sip of a beer out of it.
“I also did mention my caddy and most of my best mates on tour are South African, so I would really like some ammo over the next few weeks to wind them up. So, I’m excited about that and that was just a huge honour to be able to do that and be a part of it. I’ll be following them intently over the next few weeks.”
It’s been a whirlwind week for the Kiwi golfer, travelling back to his United States home in Jupiter, Florida from the United Kingdom, having a packed media schedule with increased interest in the States, then returning home to New Zealand within a week for more celebrations and media.
But a public celebration at Britomart in Auckland on Tuesday afternoon, with a good crowd turning out to show their appreciation for his achievement, shaped as a line-in-the-sand moment, after which he hoped things might be a bit quieter and he would enjoy downtime in his regular life before flying back to the US for the PGA Tour playoffs.
Until this point, Fox had largely been able to fly under the radar, particularly in the US. Now, adding the Open Championship to his two PGA Tour wins last year, he might have to get used to the spotlight shining on him a little bit more.
“On the golf course, I can handle being the centre of attention, but I don’t feel very comfortable with it outside of that. So that’s going to be a bit of my life going forward,” he said.
“It’s going to be very different in the US as well. Being able to fly under the radar over there, I don’t think, especially around golf tournaments, that’s going to happen for a little while and that’s going to take a little bit to get used to getting marquee groups and stuff compared to what I’ve had the last couple of years on tour.
“Even being a winner, it’s a whole different league winning a major. My life is going to change and I’m just going to have to get used to all of this and the extra attention.
“But this is also what I dreamed of wanting to be able to do. I’ve done it and if I can’t live with the consequences of that, it probably shouldn’t have been a dream in the first place.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.