Kiwi Ryan Fox outlasts Sam Burns in Canadian Open playoff thriller for second PGA Tour win

Ryan Fox poses with the trophy after winning the RBC Canadian Open. Photo / Getty Images

Golf is a game of patience.

For Ryan Fox, staying patient has paid off in a big way.

The Kiwi golfer secured his second win on the PGA Tour today, taking out the RBC Canadian Open in Toronto. The victory comes about a month after his first, when he won the Myrtle Beach Classic in early May.

For the second time, Fox won in a playoff – needing four extra holes to separate himself from American Sam Burns.

“I’m still trying to process it,” Fox said.

“It’s crazy. The last four weeks I’ve played some of the best golf I’ve ever played and to get a couple of wins on the PGA Tour in a month is pretty surreal, to be honest.”

Fox only forced extra holes with a 5m (16.9ft) putt on the par-five 18th for birdie. It was a similar length and position to the one made by Burns, which gave the American the clubhouse lead at 18-under-par earlier in the day.

It’s the first time a Kiwi has won two events in a single season on the PGA Tour since Sir Bob Charles won the Houston Classic and the Open Championship in 1963. Fox also joins Charles as a Canadian Open winner, with the latter winning the 1968 tournament.

The win sees Fox qualify for next week’s US Open, the third major of the season.

It was advantage Burns off the tee to open the playoff at 18 – which was the only hole to be used in the playoff – who found the fairway while Fox found one of the bunkers to the right.

Fox hit a good shot out of the sand to be in a position to keep the pressure on Burns – and did exactly that to give himself a birdie putt from a similar length to the one he made to force the playoff.

Burns answered, leaving himself a putt for the win within 2m. They both settled for par and made the trek back to the tee box to play the hole again.

This time it was Fox with the putt to win, but he left his attempt at birdie short.

Ryan Fox reacts after leaving his putt to win short on the second playoff hole in the RBC Canadian Open. Photo / AFP

Back to the tee box they went for a third attempt to find a winner. This time, however, the hole location was changed to the other side of the green.

Two pars, and it was back to the tee box for a fourth attempt.

But a great drive followed by a beautiful second shot gave Fox a makeable shot at eagle while Burns left himself work to do on the green.

The American three-putted for par, meaning a two-putt would win it for Fox.

With a tap-in birdie, Fox became a two-time winner on the PGA Tour.

“[I] didn’t hit a couple of great shots in the playoff and Sam let me off there the first time around. [It was] nice to hit a good one on 18 that fourth time.

“That’s probably the best shot I’ve hit in my life and nice to do it in these circumstances.”

Heading into the final round tied for the lead at 14-under, the 38-year-old struggled to get going early.

Sending his first tee shot into the bushes, it was about as poor an opening shot as he could have hit. But he limited the damage with some smart play and scurried away with a par.

It wasn’t the only time Fox had to scramble early in his round, but with nothing but pars through the opening five holes, he kept himself in the hunt while others in the field were shooting the lights out.

A birdie on the par-four sixth got things going for the Kiwi, who had several more putts to make up shots but couldn’t capitalise.

That was until back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th holes saw him move to within one shot of leader Sam Burns and with a few holes left to work with.

Fox made a great attempt at a long birdie on the 16th but saw his putt just miss to the right, setting up an easy par.

He gave himself a great look at birdie on the 17th, too, but it was a tentative effort and it looked as though he knew it was missing right off the club.

That put all the pressure on to his final hole of the tournament – a hole he had birdied in all three of his previous rounds.

He repeated the dose in his fourth round.

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.