'Always believe in your boy': The surprise moment caddie felt Ryan Fox was on for something special

Strange as it seems, Ryan Fox’s caddie Dean Smith felt his golfer was on track for something special before they had even arrived at Royal Birkdale for the Open Championship.

Fox claimed a one-shot win for his maiden major championship and the right to hold aloft the Claret Jug which, in the midst of celebrating later in the evening, Smith chipped a tooth on.

It was a spectacular victory for Fox. After dragging himself back into contention for a maiden major with an eight-under-par third round – carding a record-equalling score of 62 – the Kiwi went into the final round in a tie for second, two shots back from American leader Sam Burns.

Fox and Burns were the final group on the course at Royal Birkdale, and while Burns couldn’t maintain his momentum, the Kiwi triumphed in spectacular fashion with a birdie on the 18th hole for a one-shot win over American Cameron Young.

Fox made four birdies in his last six holes to clinch the championship and played near-perfect golf in his final three holes. While Smith might not have expected a win initially, the South African told the Herald there were signs that Fox was on track for a good week as they arrived at the England course.

“Actually, it’s kind of weird. Going back the week before at the Scottish Open, midway through the second round he started hitting some unbelievable golf shots and that’s kind of where I started feeling something special’s about to happen,” Smith said.

Ryan Fox and caddie Dean Smith have been working together for the best part of the last 11 years. Photo / Getty Images

“You always believe in your boy, you always believe that he’s capable and he can do it. I think that’s when it started, but in the final round, I think probably [hole] 13 was one of those moments where I was like, ‘jeepers, there’s a chance here. There is definitely a chance.’

“I can see how he is, I can see his aggression out there, his focus, the way he’s playing, and that was kind of the first moment where I thought this could happen right now. Then, I mean, we all know the story: four birdies in the last six holes to get it done.”

As Fox prefers to be left to his own devices on the greens, it made for heartwarming scenes as Smith could be seen dropping to his knees on the other side of the green when the final putt dropped.

“I don’t know why I fell to my knees. I can’t remember much about it,” Smith said.

“We spoke about it the night before. I was out with his coach Wheelie [Marcus Wheelhouse] and his manager and agent Ian Keenan, and we were talking about the dream of getting this done, and it happened. It was just the most amazing thing ever.”

It’s not the first time Smith has seen Fox do something special on the golf course.

The South African has been Fox’s bagman for much of his career since late 2015. They first met at the China Open earlier that year when Smith was working for South Korean Byeong-hun An, and the pair got to know each other as An and Fox had a practice round together at the Open later that year. After a successful 18 months together, Smith and An went their separate ways and the caddie said it wasn’t long before Fox had called asking Smith to work with him.

Barring a short break in mid-2019 to the end of 2021, the pair have worked together ever since, with Smith on the bag for all of the biggest wins in Fox’s career to date.

“He made an unbelievable putt and an unbelievable birdie at Wentworth to win the BMW PGA in ’23 and he’s had two playoffs where, I’m sure you guys all saw that in the Canadian Open, the second playoff ... he had a 15-, 20-footer to get himself into a playoff.

“He takes his opportunities. He’s the ultimate competitor. It’s impressive. It’s really impressive.”

After his win at the Open Championship, plenty has been made of the speed at which Fox plays the game – his see-shot, hit-shot approach to the game coming to the fore in impressive fashion.

Familiar with how his golfer likes to operate, Smith said he always has to make sure he’s ready with answers if Fox has a question at any point in a round so he doesn’t hold Fox up.

In the final round at Royal Birkdale, there was only one question – and it came late in the round.

“That was the second shot into 16. When he stood over the ball, he had one last look and he said ‘are you sure this is enough club?’

“Luckily I had the answer ready because we had a very similar number on 11 ... that was the only time where we had a discussion about clubs. We do discuss obviously every club and every shot and every target. But if you guys watch Foxy, you’ll see that we do everything quickly and it’s usually, before the cameras are even on us, we’ve already spoken about wind direction, club, where we want to land it, all that sort of stuff.”

As much as it was for Fox, the win at Royal Birkdale was a dream come true for Smith.

Reflecting on his own career, he said his own goals lined up well with Fox’s: first wanting to work on the European Tour, then on the PGA Tour and hopefully working for someone who wins a major championship. He has achieved all of those milestones on the bag for the Kiwi.

“It doesn’t get any better. So, for me, it’s just incredible. I’m so proud of him. I’m so proud to be a part of that journey and get that major and drink out of the Claret Jug,” Smith said.

“I mean, the wine was pretty good as you can imagine. [I] chipped my tooth on the Claret Jug which is, yeah, I don’t know what time it was. I’ve seen some videos of, at 2, 3 in the morning, you know, drinking out of the Claret Jug, I’ve got red wine all down my winning bib. But yeah, it tastes super sweet.”

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