'It’s pretty amazing': Ryan Fox wins the Open Championship golf major

Ryan Fox has become the fourth New Zealander to win a golf major.

The 39 year-old from Auckland made a 12-foot birdie putt on the final hole at Royal Birkdale to secure the Claret Jug by one shot.

Fox also collects close to $5.5 million dollars in prize money.

He joins Dame Lydia Ko, Michael Campbell, and Sir Bob Charles as major winners from New Zealand.

Not many would’ve picked Fox to win at the start of the week, coming into the event ranked 56th in the world.

He started relatively poorly with a two-over par first round of 72 to be seven shots off the lead.

After narrowly making the cut, Fox produced an incredible third round of 62, the joint-lowest round in men’s major history, to charge up the leaderboard.

He started round three in a tie for 52nd place, meaning this is the largest 36-hole comeback by position to win a men’s major in history.

Fox had never finished in the top-10 at a Major in 28 previous attempts.

After his winning putt, he returned to sign his scorecard and video call his wife and kids who are back at home in Florida.

"Oh wow. Um, I don't really know what to think at the moment,” a stunned Fox said at the trophy presentation.

“I've got a lot of people to thank. First of all, my family. I spoke to my kids last night, and they said, 'Bring back a trophy.' I think this is a pretty cool one to bring back for them!”

“My family back in New Zealand, and all of my supporters back there. I know it's been a long night for them, but I'm glad it was worthwhile.”

Fox joins Sir Bob Charles, who won the Open Championship in 1963, as the only other New Zealander to secure the Claret Jug.

"It's the first time I've seen it up close, so it's pretty amazing," Fox said immediately after the presentation.

Fox needed a birdie to win heading into the final hole and says he wanted to attack the par-4.

“I stood on the tee and said to my caddie, Dean, 'Um, you know, we're going to try to win this,' and I hit two perfect shots, and I'm not sure how I hit the putt, my hands were all over the place.” Fox recalls.

“I was just trying to get it towards the hole somewhere, and yeah, it's surreal that it went in.”