After his career-making, life-changing victory at the 2026 Open Championship, Ryan Fox partied hard until the wee hours (eventually getting kicked out of Royal Birkdale).
But what happened after the final drops of wine had been drained from the Claret Jug was just short of harrowing.
In his press conference ahead of this week’s BMW Championship, Fox detailed the “craziness” that unfolded on his lengthy trip home to Florida after his big win, from the difficulties of flying commercial with two different Claret Jugs, to his viral run-in with the man he’d just defeated, Cameron Young.
Ryan Fox describes run-in with Cam Young on Open Championship flight: ‘Oh, no’
The first complicating factor to Fox’s rollercoaster trip home was the fact that he’d stayed up all night celebrating his win, and then had to head to the airport early in the morning after getting “literally no sleep.”
“I mean, the craziness probably started at about 9 o’clock on Sunday night after my official business finished. But, yeah, I was on a like six something flight back to London, to then London to Miami to go meet my family,” Fox explained on Tuesday at the BMW. “So I got picked up from our house at Birkdale at 4:15 in the morning, so there was literally no sleep before that. So you can imagine I probably wasn’t in the best state getting to the airport.”
An awkward airport encounter with Young added to the vibes, a photo of which had circulated on social media that day.
Before Fox drained four birdies over his final six holes at Royal Birkdale to claim his first major title, it looked like Young would be the 2026 Open champion.
Young had blitzed Birkdale for a final-round 64 earlier on Sunday to take the clubhouse lead at nine under. He then was forced to wait and watch if anyone could top him in the final hours of the tournament. The 2026 Players champion found out his dreams had been dashed when, standing on the practice range, he heard the roar following Fox’s winning birdie putt.
In the end, only one shot separated Young from his major breakthrough. Heartbreak filled the void instead.
That’s why Fox was somewhat horrified when, after arriving at the airport, the “first person in line” in front of him was none other than Young.
“So I turn up and I’ve got my backpack, Trackman, I’ve got golf clubs, suitcase, and then I’ve got the Claret Jug and then the replica in these two big like boxes, rolly boxes. So I walk in, and the first person in line in front of me is Cam Young,” Fox revealed.
Though Fox felt guilty about the beatdown he’d just put on Young’s Open hopes, he said Young was “brilliant” and their encounter was friendly.
“And I’m like, Oh, no. Like, I feel a bit guilty about this,” Fox revealed. “Cam was brilliant. We chatted and everything like that.”
That’s good for both of them, because once they got on the plane the two Tour pros realized they were sitting near each other for the flight.
Fox had to explain what Claret Jug was to airport staff: ‘Normally you would call us’
Fox’s next travel complication revolved around the fact that, in addition to his gear and luggage, he was lugging two Claret Jugs in large cases with him: the real Claret Jug that he gets to keep for a year and the replica he gets to keep for life.
Making matters worse, the check-in attendant had no idea what the Claret Jug or the “British Open” was, so Fox had to patiently explain.
“And then so I get to the check-in desk and she, I go, ‘Can these things go on the plane? Like, they’re probably a little bit too valuable to go underneath.’ And she’s like, ‘What are they?’ And I’m, ‘Oh, they’re the trophies. Like, it’s the Claret Jug.’ And then I had to explain that it was the British Open trophy and I had won it yesterday and everything,” Fox explained. “So she’s like, ‘Yeah, no problem.’ She’s like, ‘Normally you would call us.’ I said, ‘Well this only happened late last night, and I wasn’t in really any state to call anyone about it.’ She’s like, ‘Okay, that’s fine.’ So I went through security. I got a couple of questions asked on security like what are these two big boxes that don’t fit in the tray properly and everything like that. And everyone was good about it.”
The worst part of the experience for Fox may have been his impact on other people on the plane. While his notoriously fast pace of play never holds anyone up on the course, his Claret Jugs caused some inconvenience to his fellow passengers on the flight.
“Then, getting on the plane I felt bad, like, I’m, I never like holding people up when you get on a plane. Like, everyone just wants to get to their seat. And I’m trying to figure out how to fit these two boxes in the overhead and take up all the space,” Fox said on Tuesday. “Obviously I’m not in a really good place mentally at that point either. Like, all I want to do is just go to sleep and maybe have a couple glasses of water and stuff like that. So, yeah, it was interesting. But I made it to London and made it on the flight back to Miami.”
Actually, that was the second worst part of his experience. The absolute “worst” part came when his final flight had landed in Miami… and then he had to drive himself home to Jupiter on virtually no sleep.
“And then probably the worst about that was I had left my car in Miami, and I reckon I had had two hours sleep on the plane from London to Miami and had to drive an hour-and-a-half back up to Jupiter,” Fox related. “That was not a very fun drive.”
After a few days home in Jupiter, Fox headed back to the airport for an even longer flight to his true homeland: New Zealand. There he was feted like a conquering hero, and he kept busy with a public event celebrating his win, golf with “mates” and a lot more drinking out of the Claret Jug.
Thanks to his victory at the Open, Fox will begin the BMW Championship ranked 25th in the FedEx Cup standings with a great chance to qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship.
