THE 154TH OPEN

July 18, 2026

Ryan Fox

Mixed Zone

Q. You've just tied the record for the lowest round in major championship history. Tell us how you're feeling.

RYAN FOX: I feel really good, to be honest. Being picky, I'd want a couple of drives back today maybe, but outside of that, I feel like I didn't really miss a shot. Had a couple of great shots down the stretch, putted really nicely.

But it feels like, when you're out in the morning, when the wind's down around here, there's almost some pressure on to shoot a score. It was nice, like Xander and I had a lot of fun out there today. Both made a bunch of birdies and kind of fed off each other.

I would have taken 62 on a Saturday, that's for sure.

Q. When you're on the chart like that and the cameras start arriving, the gallery begins growing, the roars start building, you've always been see ball, hit ball. Can you describe your head space and your mental space throughout that round?

RYAN FOX: To be honest, nothing really changed. I didn't think about much. It was just pick my targets, hit a shot, and keep it rolling basically.

As I said, I get along pretty well with Xander. We just talked walking down most of the fairways. It was kind of easy. Didn't really think about anything else that was going on there.

Yeah, it's nice to be in that head space. Hopefully I can find something similar tomorrow.

Q. How do you go out and execute your plan tomorrow?

RYAN FOX: Just pick shots and try to hit them. Nothing changes game plan-wise. I think this golf course anyway kind of lends itself to being fluid, depending on -- the wind's swung around from all directions this morning when we played, it felt like.

You can't say I'm going to hit 4-iron off this tee or I'm going to hit 2-iron off this tee or driver. It does change depending on wind direction.

I went in there with a pretty aggressive strategy the whole day and did the same thing yesterday and played pretty decently. So I'll try to do the same thing tomorrow and see what happens.

Q. When you warmed up today, did it feel like an extra special day?

RYAN FOX: No. To be honest, I warmed up better yesterday. I was going well yesterday, I was 4-under through 11. I kind of struggled a bit coming home.

Golf doesn't make sense like that. The days sometimes you flush everything on the range and get a little aggressive early, and it doesn't work, and you shoot 2-over, and you're like it felt really good.

Today I kind of hit a couple of really good shots early and just kind of kept it rolling. I had one of those days where everything felt like I finished on a good number, like there was no real in between shots with lines out of the fairway. That makes it easier.

We obviously had the wind down as well. Just kind of did everything nicely today, which it's been a nice change. I haven't been able to say that much this year.

Q. Was there a point in the round you knew the historical ramifications of what you were doing?

RYAN FOX: Yeah, it probably crept into my head on 10, but I wouldn't say it was there. Then when I birdied 14, I was like I've got a chance here. Obviously 17 you feel like it's a birdie hole. If you can sneak one more there, I knew I had a chance to get to that 62 number.

To be honest, standing on the last tee, I'm going if I can get one on the fairway here, you can get a wedge or a 9-iron in and have a putt for 61.

I was pretty happy to have that 40-footer out of the fairway trap. Didn't hit a great first putt, but I was very happy the second one went in the middle.

Q. At the end, you seemed to make a gesture.

RYAN FOX: I heard a sound, like I think it clipped the top of the bunker, whether it got grass or -- so I was probably an inch away from being really, really good or an inch away from having the same shot again. So that was the gesture I made.

Q. That's the fine margin?

RYAN FOX: Yeah, like it was a shot, I was on the edge of it anyway. I was on a little upslope. I had a number to get 8-iron over the front bunker, and I knew I had to hit it perfectly to get it over the lip. I did, but it only just got over the lip.

Q. It's becoming sort of run of the mill for people to match that record. Couldn't help but notice yesterday the Aussie was taken in here into the big media tent, the Kiwi is just kind of out here.

RYAN FOX: That's all right. I'm going to be in a good place tomorrow. That's more what I'm worried about.

Q. Were you concerned when you bogeyed 18 yesterday that you wouldn't make the cut?

RYAN FOX: No. I always thought even was going to be fine, probably going to be 1.

Probably the only time I wasn't aggressive yesterday, I stood on the 18th tee -- the only time you can make double on 18 really is hit it in one of those bunkers, and I think I hit 5-iron, 5-iron into 18 just to make sure I didn't do anything stupid to make sure I was around for the weekend. I think it was a decent decision in the end.

Q. What's been the main cause behind this cluster of 62s? Is it the way the course is setup or good weather conditions?

RYAN FOX: I think it's just the good weather conditions. The course is brilliant. It's obviously very firm and fast. In the mornings the greens are a little bit softer. Obviously we had pretty much no wind until the last couple of holes today. You feel like you can shoot a score in the morning and the greens are perfect, that if you do roll it well, you feel like you hole everything.

That's kind of the day I had today, and I'm sure the other guys will say the same from yesterday.

Q. What are you going to do this afternoon?

RYAN FOX: I'll watch a fair bit of golf on TV and try to get a replay of the All Blacks game. I watched a decent chunk of that this morning, and I was pretty happy with that result too. I just saw Shane on the screen, and I'm looking forward to taking 100 quid off of him, the little bet we had.

Q. Have you ever had a situation where you have a round like that and go right to the top?

RYAN FOX: Not that I can think of. It's so bunched out there really. Obviously Lucas got to 8, but he had a two-shot lead in the end, like it's so bunched from 6 through to even.

It felt like if you hit a good round in the morning today, I could have put myself in contention. I obviously did a lot better than that.

We'll see where it ends up at the end of the day, but I know I'll be somewhere up there tomorrow.

Q. Are you going to find Shane, or are you going to miss him?

RYAN FOX: I'll find him somewhere. I don't live too far away from him in Jupiter. I know he's good for it if I don't see him this week.

Q. Xander shot two 62s in majors. I don't know if you know that.

RYAN FOX: I do.

Q. He said the pins, he can't imagine where they're going to put them tomorrow because they were so tough today. That was out of respect for your round.

RYAN FOX: To be fair, we had that conversation on 2. The pin on 1 is tucked right over the bunker. The pin on 2 is over that little ridge. I kind of said to him the R&A have got it in for us after the two 62s yesterday. Then I go and do it today.

I think they're going to find a few slopes and put them on top of bunkers tomorrow for us. I think the scoring will get tougher this afternoon anyway. The golf course bakes out; the wind's up a little bit.

It does feel like in the mornings when the greens are softer, there is a chance, and I was happy to take that chance today.

Q. You said you're going to be aggressive just like you've been tomorrow. Is there a point in your mind that maybe that's not the right decision?

RYAN FOX: Not really. I mean, obviously, if you've got a couple of shot lead down the stretch, you take a couple of the bunkers out of play.

But it's a golf course if you start laying back of all the bunkers, you end up with really hard second shots, I feel like. Like yesterday I hit driver a lot more than I did the first day and drove it well and felt like I had a lot more birdie chances.

A lot of the time I feel like -- this is me personally anyway. If you lay back, you're always playing I don't want to hit it in the bunker, whereas if you take it on, you're almost -- you can live with hitting it in a fairway bunker, and if you do hit it in the rough or get it in a bunker, you hack it out and you've got a wedge in rather than if you hit it in one of the ones further back, you hack it out and you end up with 8-iron or whatever and the hole's still hard.

I think a lot of guys have been pretty aggressive. I heard Rory's hit driver pretty much everywhere for the first two days.

If you execute, you can score around here. If you don't, it will bite you pretty quickly.

Q. Don't you own a lot of course records? Do you know how many this would be?

RYAN FOX: I don't, to be honest. I've got a few back home in New Zealand, but I haven't really translated those low scores into Tour golf. Today was pretty nice to do that.

I've got Tara Iti. I think it was like 61. Te Arai South was 60 and probably a couple others around the place.

Q. Was this the best one ever?

RYAN FOX: This is the best one ever by far, yeah.