D'Arcy Waldegrave: What else can I say about Ryan Fox?

Author: Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2026, 10:19am

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Ryan Fox of New Zealand celebrates victory on the 18th green on day four of the The 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale on July 19, 2026 in Southport, England. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

Ryan Fox. What's left to add? The tsunami of Fox has flooded New Zealand's media landscape, sweeping all other sport stories away. Which netball must be most appreciative of. I'd focus on that long-term slow-motion locomotive derailment, but I need positivity this morning, not more handwringing around that fall from grace. Stand down.

Back to Ryan. The plaudits coming his way are richly deserved. No sportsperson encapsulates what Kiwis believe to be who we are, more than this reluctant golfing icon. Because he is an icon now. His success, and the manner of, at the Open, has catapulted him into our sporting iconography. His dad-bod and bandy legged charge up the 18th is a picture we’ll never forget.

The beauty of the guy with a swing akin to a lumberjack having a crack at a pine, is his ambivalent attitude to how he is seen. Not one funk given. Like the famous meme, "Behold the field in which I grow my funks, lay thine eyes upon it, and see that it is barren".

He drinks too much red wine, likes a pie, doesn't mess around on the tees, fairways or greens. Pragmatic in his approach - see ball, hit ball. There is nothing self-important or superior about him or his game. And the global golfing community has bought into it as well. He's a human, warts and all, which reflects the majority of golfers. Out there, having a good time, playing golf for the love of it.

He's very approachable from a media standpoint too, although I expect with his stratospheric profile now, that will understandably change. I've never had an issue locking him in for a chat, and he's never offered anything less than his authentic self.

I spoke with him a couple of years back as he was finding his place in the upper echelon of golf, appearing in major tournaments had started to become a regular occurrence. I asked him if he felt he belonged at that level yet, and how important that was for his game. He said he'd finally started to feel that he did, and it was. No longer starstruck or overwhelmed (not that he ever looked like he was), he felt then that this was his world, his space and he deserved to be there.

Now the world knows what he had grown to know.

And it hasn't changed him.

Outfunkingstanding.

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