British Open 2026: Ryan Fox makes major history of his own with Saturday 62

Ryan Fox, welcome to the 62 Club.

The 39-year-old New Zealander added his name to a quickly growing historical list during Saturday's third round at the British Open by shooting 62.

Fox became just the eighth man to shoot that score in a major championship, but the third to do it this week at Royal Birkdale, where a lack of wind has produced favorable scoring positions. Fox follwed the Friday 62s of Lucas Herbert and Sam Burns.

"When you're out in the morning, when the wind's down around here, there's almost some pressure on to shoot a score," Fox told reporters after. "It was nice. . . . I would have taken 62 on a Saturday, that's for sure."

Fox shot a front-nine 29 on Saturday before adding another birdie at No. 10. His momentum was momentarily stalled by a bogey on No. 13, but he responded with three more birdies and a nerve-racking par on 18 that involved an approach shot from a fairway bunker that came dangerously close to catching the lip.

"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," Fox said. "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."

More importantly, Fox moved from even par to eight under and in a share of the lead as he finished his third round about an hour before the leaders teed off.

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

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Is it the British Open or the Open Championship? The name of the final men’s major of the golf season is a subject of continued discussion. The event’s official name, as explained in this op-ed by former R&A chairman Ian Pattinson, is the Open Championship. But since many United States golf fans continue to refer to it as the British Open, and search news around the event accordingly, Golf Digest continues to utilize both names in its coverage.