Ryan Fox Wins the Myrtle Beach Classic With a Playoff Chip-In for His First PGA TOUR Title

Ryan Fox had the worst angle of the three. Drive into the pines, approach short-sided, ball sitting just off the 18th green while Mackenzie Hughes and Harry Higgs both had birdie putts waiting. Then Fox chipped in from more than 50 feet, and a playoff that looked like a coin flip between the other two was over in one swing.

The 38-year-old New Zealander won the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic on the first playoff hole Sunday at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club, beating Hughes and Higgs after all three finished regulation at 15-under 269. Fox closed with a bogey-free, 5-under 66. It is his first PGA TOUR title, and it came on a day when the 54-hole leader faded and the man in front on the 72nd tee could not hold on.

Fox Comes From Three Back

Fox started the final round three behind Carson Young, buried in a five-way tie at 10 under. What followed was patient, mistake-free golf. Fox made five birdies with no bogeys, including four on the back nine at the 10th, 13th, 15th and 17th. The birdie at the par-3 17th is the one that got Fox into the clubhouse at 15 under, and it turned out to be exactly enough.

At 18 in regulation, Fox had a birdie putt to get to 16 under and missed it to the right. That miss ended up paying for itself. "I had a really similar line in regulation and missed the putt right," Fox said, per the AP. Caddie Dean Smith reminded him in the playoff that the putt did not break much, so Fox played the chip straight at the hole. It never left that line.

Hughes and the 72nd Hole

This one will sting for Hughes. The Canadian led on Thursday, shared the lead Friday, and stood on the 18th tee Sunday with a one-shot advantage. Then came a pulled drive into the trees left of the fairway. Hughes had to pitch out, and a par putt from about 10 feet slid by. Bogey, a closing 67, and a three-way tie.

The playoff offered a strange bit of déjà vu. Hughes hooked the drive into the pines again, but this time the ball kicked back into the middle of the fairway. It did not matter. After the Fox chip dropped, Hughes missed a birdie putt in the 10 to 12-foot range that would have extended things.

Higgs Comes Agonizingly Close

Higgs, the 34-year-old Texan, did almost everything right. A closing 68 included two bogeys, and in regulation Higgs had a 25-foot birdie putt on 18 that would have been a first PGA TOUR win. It missed. In the playoff, Higgs split the fairway with the best drive of the three and still ended up watching someone else celebrate after a long birdie try missed.

"It felt like this one was mine," Higgs said, per Golf Digest.

It was Higgs' first career playoff on the PGA TOUR, and a T2 is a meaningful result even if it will not feel like one for a few days.

Young's Lead Slips Away

The overnight story belonged to Carson Young, the Clemson product from Anderson, South Carolina, who led by one after a bogey-free 64 in the rain on Saturday. Sunday was a different day. Young could not find the same rhythm, and a bogey on the par-5 15th, the same hole where Young had holed a flop for eagle a day earlier, took the air out of the back-nine charge. A 2-over 73 dropped Young into a tie for 13th at 11 under.

Others made noise late. Kevin Yu shot 65 to finish alone in fourth at 14 under, one out of the playoff. Niklas Nørgaard (64) and Alex Smalley (67) tied for fifth at 13 under, and Rico Hoey matched Nørgaard's 64 to jump into a tie for seventh.

What the Win Means

For Fox, the payoff is massive. The victory comes with a two-year PGA TOUR exemption, $720,000, 300 FedExCup points and a spot in The Sentry at Kapalua next January. Even better, it sends Fox straight to next week's PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, about three hours up the road in Charlotte, where the final spot had been held for this week's winner.

Fox arrived with plenty of pedigree, including multiple DP World Tour wins headlined by the 2023 BMW PGA Championship, and had climbed as high as No. 23 in the world. But the PGA TOUR had been a grind. "It's probably been a tough couple of seasons out here, just getting my card last year," Fox told New Zealand's 1News. Fox also told the AP, "I always deep down felt like I could compete with the guys out here."

According to Golf Today, Fox is the first New Zealander to win on the PGA TOUR since Danny Lee at the 2015 Greenbrier Classic.

The Takeaway

Myrtle Beach gave us a new look at the top every day: Hughes outright, Hughes and Cristobal Del Solar together, Young alone, and finally Fox, who held none of those overnight leads and won anyway. Golf can be cruel and wonderful within the same 10 minutes, and the 18th green at The Dunes showed both sides of it.

"Very rewarding," Fox said. After a stretch of tough seasons, that might be the understatement of the spring.

Catch up on the full week in our Round 1, Round 2 and Round 3 recaps. Final scoring is on the official PGA TOUR leaderboard (opens in a new tab), and the TOUR has the winner's story (opens in a new tab).

Sources: PGA TOUR (leaderboard and final-round story), AP, Golf Digest, 1News, Golf Today, ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic, SportsTalkSC. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.