MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Ryan Fox of New Zealand chipped in from simply outdoors 50 toes on the primary playoff gap to win the Myrtle Seashore Basic on Sunday for his first PGA Tour title, sending him again to the PGA Championship.
Fox closed with a 5-under 66 that regarded prefer it won’t be sufficient when Mackenzie Hughes got here to the 18th gap with a one-shot lead.
Hughes pulled his drive into the timber, needed to pitch out and missed a 10-foot par putt for a 67 that put him in a playoff at 15-under 269 with Fox and Harry Higgs, who missed a 25-foot birdie putt on the 18th with an opportunity to win for the primary time. Higgs shot 68.
Going again to the 18th for the playoff, Hughes and Higgs discovered the golf green and every had an honest take a look at birdie. Fox went from the tough to the collar proper of the inexperienced. He raised each arms when the chip dropped for birdie.
“I had a extremely related line in regulation and missed the putt proper,” Fox mentioned. “My caddie, Dean [Smith], mentioned to me, ‘Bear in mind, this does not break that a lot.’ So I simply type of aimed straight at it, and I hit the spot I needed to hit. … To be sincere, it by no means regarded prefer it was going anyplace else, and the remainder of it’s a little bit of a blur from there.”
Higgs and Hughes missed their birdie putts.
The 38-year-old Fox had received 3 times on the European tour, together with the flagship BMW PGA Championship in 2023, and has climbed as excessive as No. 23 on the earth. However he had but to document a high 10 on the PGA Tour this yr.
“Very rewarding,” Fox mentioned. “I have not transitioned in all probability in addition to I’d have preferred over to the PGA Tour. It was a tricky yr final yr. I managed to only preserve my card. It has been a scratchy begin this yr as properly. I at all times deep down felt like I might compete with the blokes out right here. Simply have not been capable of put it collectively. I used to be very pleased to do it this week and provides myself an opportunity on Sunday was good once more.”
The PGA Championship was holding a spot within the area at Quail Hole for the winner of the Myrtle Seashore Basic. This will probably be Fox’s fourth straight yr taking part in the main. Hughes was already within the area.
The victory additionally provides Fox a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour and a spot in The Sentry at Kapalua to begin subsequent yr.
