Ryan Fox has never been the loudest voice in professional golf, but his newest comments prove silence was never the same as indifference.

The soft-spoken Kiwi just picked a fight with one of the sport's quietest frustrations, slow play culture.

Speaking on the Fore Play podcast, Fox admitted, "My biggest pet peeve, and I think a lot of guys on tour would say the same thing, especially the fast guys, is just not being ready. There's too much of that on Tour, and that annoys the hell out of me."

Fox said this after having just won the Open Championship, where the element of timing was essential. Fox managed to birdie four of his last six holes at Royal Birkdale, which required timing rather than second-guessing to beat Cameron Young.

The frustration felt by Fox has much to do with how his tournament week has been going. He posted a tying course-record 9-under 62 during the third round on Saturday, which required momentum. After this, he went on to shoot a 12-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole, finishing at 10-under par (270).

That final putt did not come from nowhere either. Fox arrived at Birkdale after a T30 finish at the Genesis Scottish Open the previous week, part of a summer stretch that included a T8 at the RBC Canadian Open and a T23 at the U.S. Open.

The consistency built the belief that carried him through Sunday's pressure holes. At 39, Fox became just the third New Zealand golfer to win a major and the first since Bob Charles in 1963.

That kind of history does not get made by players who second-guess their rhythm on the course, which makes his stance on readiness feel less like a complaint and more like a philosophy that just won him a Claret Jug.

That discipline over pace didn't stop once he walked off the 18th green. It followed him straight into an airport line the very next day.

Ryan Fox and the Claret Jug That Wouldn't Rush

Ryan Fox had barely slept after edging Cameron Young by a single stroke to win the 2026 Open Championship.

Less than 24 hours later, he found himself standing behind Young again, this time in a British Airways check-in line at Manchester Airport, then seated one row behind him on the flight home to London.

Speaking on GOLF's Subpar podcast, Fox admitted the moment could have turned awkward fast. "He was great," Fox told Subpar.

The trophy itself caused a slight holdup boarding, with the Claret Jug and its replica taking their time getting stowed overhead. Fox felt zero urge to rush it.

"Some people were probably getting a little annoyed," Fox joked. "But I wasn't going to be the person who loses the Claret Jug and puts it in the cargo hold."

It was a fitting scene for a win that ended New Zealand's 21-year major drought since Michael Campbell's 2005 U.S. Open triumph.

Comment down your thoughts on Ryan Fox's historic Open Championship.

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Written by

Utsav Gupta

Edited by

Utsav Gupta