Ryan Fox grinds out Canadian Open win on fourth playoff hole

CALEDON, Ont. – Sunday’s finale at the RBC Canadian Open proved that even a pillow fight can have a winner.

That’s to take nothing away from Ryan Fox, who eventually defeated Sam Burns on the fourth playoff hole at TPC Toronto, but it certainly won’t go down in the history books as one of the most electrifying endings to a golf tournament in recent memory.

The 18th hole, playing as a three-shot par-5 through most of the day, continued to be as such through the overtime frames. First, Fox missed a 15-footer, followed by Burns missing a 5-footer. And then Fox missed an 11-footer and Burns missed a 15-footer the second time around.

Then, something that’s never happened before in a PGA Tour playoff – the grounds crew at TPC Toronto came out to change the hole from back left to front right.

Burns had a flip wedge left in the third playoff hole, but left it short and it sucked down almost to the water, leaving he, and Fox, some four feet for par.

Finally, the wind had died enough that on the fourth playoff hole, both golfers went for it and Fox ripped a fairway wood from 259 yards to less than 10 feet, while Burns was on the other side of the green. Burns ended up three-putting, while Fox, who shot 4-under 66 in regulation, calmly tapped in his birdie for the win.

Fox would go on to say that the 3-wood he hit on the final playoff hole was as good as it gets.

“We had a couple scrappy holes there, and then to hit the shot I hit on 18 on the fourth playoff, it was pretty surreal. It's the best shot I've ever hit in my life,” Fox said. “There's nothing close to that.”

It was Fox’s second PGA Tour title in less than a month. He won the ONEFlight Myrtle Beach Classic in early May, also in a playoff (which included Canadian Mackenzie Hughes).

The last player 38 or older to get his first two PGA Tour wins in the same season was Todd Hamilton in 2004.

It was a wild way for Burns to lose the tournament, as he is, statistically, the best putter on the PGA Tour. It came after he fired a final-round 62, the low round of the day. It was also his lowest final-round score of his PGA Tour career. He had to wait around nearly two hours to see if his 18-under score would hold up as he teed off 11 groups earlier than Fox in the final twosome.

“I think Sam's going to be a little bit gutted,” Fox said. “He probably felt like he let that slip a little bit, especially the first playoff hole, but you need a little bit of luck in this game as well, and I was very lucky in that regard.”

Fox — who is the second golfer from New Zealand to win the Canadian Open after Bob Charles in 1968 — had a steady, if unspectacular, start to his Sunday before turning it on on the back nine. He rolled in a tidy 20-footer for birdie at The Rink hole, the par-3 14th, before nipping a wedge to just two feet on the next hole for another circle on his scorecard.

He added a closing birdie from 16 feet on 18 to force a playoff with Burns, who was looking for his first PGA Tour win since 2023, and his first stroke-play title since 2022.

Fox, who had his two children, Isabel and Margot, in his arms with him greenside as the sun began to set at TPC Toronto, had a tough stretch through 2024, finishing 106th on the FedExCup standings. One of his three top 10s last year, however, came at this event at Hamilton.

He said adding his name to an impressive list of winners at this event – the third-oldest on the PGA Tour schedule – has meant a lot.

“It’s such an iconic tournament, so much history here. To get my name on that trophy is amazing,” Fox said. “To get a chance to play in it and have a couple good weeks last year and this year — obviously this year is a little better — is amazing. To see some of the names that are on that trophy and to have my name on it is amazing.”

Family aside, Fox had a fairly boisterous group cheering him on through the playoff as a hearty handful of New Zealand’s national soccer team, the All Whites, were on site after their incredible 1-0 victory over the Ivory Coast last night at the Canadian Shield tournament.

“I know it was a big win for them last night, and to be able to share my win with them was really cool. There's a lot of Kiwis doing good things in sport around the world, and we all work for each other, and it was cool to just be together in that moment,” Fox said.

While Fox was chuffed to have many of his countrymen at TPC Toronto to cheer him on, the Canadian faithful were packed tight around the closing hole as Nick Taylor earned the Rivermead Cup as low Canadian.

Taylor was in the mix early but stumbled down the stretch, missing a 5-footer for birdie on No. 13, and then making an ugly double bogey on No. 17, essentially killing his chances to win the Canadian Open for the second time in three years.

“It stings with the finish today, but I'm happy I gave it a run,” Taylor said. “I thought 17 would be a playoff potentially, but give it a chance with a few holes to go is kind of what you're looking for. It didn't pan out this time, but if that's a consolation prize, it's nice.”

Funny enough, four of the Canadians who made the cut all finished tied for 27th at 10 under – Corey Conners, Taylor Pendrith, Adam Hadwin and Mackenzie Hughes. Hughes was in the third-to-last group Sunday but struggled to a 2-over 72.

Ben Silverman and Richard Lee finished tied for 36th, while Matt Anderson finished tied for 47th.

Four Canadians will also head off to Oakmont Country Club for the U.S. Open next week, with Hughes, Taylor, Conners and Pendrith all looking for some major magic.

Fox also earned his way into the U.S. Open with his win.

“My head's spinning. Obviously, I knew I was playing good golf coming into this week. Just wanted to give myself a chance come Sunday afternoon,” Fox said. “Anything can happen, and I was lucky enough it fell my way.”

The RBC Canadian Open was also part of The Open Championship qualifying series, which meant the top three golfers on the board who had not yet earned a spot at Royal Portrush stamped their ticket. Kevin Yu (3rd), and Cameron Young and Matt McCarty (tied for fourth) were the qualifiers.