At the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February, the first tee starter announced Ryan Fox as the winner of the net division of the Seminole Pro-Member with his pro-am partner, Jimmy Dunne III, before proceeding to list off all the various accolades of fellow pro competitor Rory McIlroy, the reigning holder of the Masters Green Jacket. On Thursday, in Memphis at the opening round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the starter had a new title for Fox: Champion Golfer of the Year. It's a distinction the 39-year-old New Zealand native can get used to hearing for a while after sinking a 12-foot putt birdie putt on the final hole to win the 154th British Open at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England, to earn his first major title and possession of the Claret Jug for a year. It wasn’t long before Fox was filling the iconic silver trophy with wine and discovering its capacity for various liquids. “It comfortably fits one bottle of wine in it. We tried to tip a couple more but it didn’t quite fit properly,” Fox said.
As the owner of a 500-bottle wine cellar, he dipped into it figuring if he couldn’t drink his good stuff — including a Grand Vin Chateau Latour — to celebrate the biggest triumph of his golf career, he’d never drink it. One night, he rented a venue for a party of 50 and they drank 18 bottles of red wine out of the Jug. [Fox’s 8-year-old nephew reportedly took a sip of water from it too.] “It was nice to celebrate it properly. We did it pretty well, maybe not as much as Shane Lowry,” he said of the 2019 champ who, in viral videos, consumed pints of beer from the Jug at Irish pubs, “but we could tell a couple stories about our celebration. My liver needs a bit of a break. Sweating it out this week in Memphis and next week at St. Louis will probably help me.”
Ryan Fox and the Kiwis drank HOW MANY bottles of wine from the Claret Jug?! 😂🇳🇿 "We did it pretty well, maybe not as well as Shane [Lowry] did it." pic.twitter.com/JzxRY4h5Cv — Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) August 11, 2026 In the days that followed his victory, Fox took the Claret Jug home to New Zealand and made sure to enjoy his favorite steak, bacon, jam and cheese pie at his local bakery and squeezed in some fishing when he wasn’t showing off the trophy. Fox said he declined a parade but upwards of 3,000 people still gathered in Auckland for a Q&A at Takutai Square to celebrate New Zealand's fourth major golf champion and only the second Kiwi to lift the Claret Jug, following Sir Bob Charles in 1963. Golf NZ acting chief executive officer Gregg Thorpe called Fox's win "a landmark moment for golf in New Zealand." Mayor Wayne Brown crowned the accomplished alongside the likes of America's Cup victories, a recent gold medal in swimming at the Commonwealth Games and golf successes by Lydia Ko, a three-time major champion including the 2024 Women's British Open, and Michael Campbell, the 2005 U.S. Open winner. Fox was glowing that sunny afternoon, bathing in the sounds of the love fest. The warm reception reminded Fox of how Campbell’s win at Pinehurst No. 2 more than two decades ago had inspired him to take golf more seriously as a teenager. “I was like, 'Wow, this is a little different.' All of a sudden I’m kind of walking in his shoes,” Fox said of the hero's welcome home. “It’s weird to think how I’m going to be like that for golfers in New Zealand now.”
Fox also brought the Claret Jug to camp with the All Blacks, the country’s famed rugby team of which his father, Grant, is one of the most heralded stars, where beer was the liquid of choice to be consumed from the trophy. But now he’s ready to drink Gatorade and sweat out the playoffs in muggy Memphis, calling it an important week to get back into his routine and chase another sought-after trophy of the sterling silver variety. Entering the week at No. 22 in the season-long FedEx Cup standings, he’s seeking to make it to East Lake and the Tour Championship, the playoff finale with its 30-man field, for the first time in his career. After his life-changing victory, sudden fame and new demands for his time, Fox hopes the golf course can be his sanctuary. "I know at golf tournaments there is going to be a whole lot more interest, there's going to be a whole lot more scrutiny on how I play and everything like that,” Fox told reporters last week in New Zealand. “I'm looking forward to getting back on tour; it will be a very different vibe but I've said it a few times this was always the dream and if I'm not prepared to live with the consequences good and bad of it, it shouldn't have been a dream in the first place, so, I'll roll with the punches in that regard." Adam Schupak is a senior writer for Golfweek, covering the PGA Tour. This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Ryan Fox celebrated his win at The Open with wine; now he chases another silver trophy