‘Ecstatic’ Fox books his British Open ticket

Ryan Fox has booked his place at this month’s British Open, but fellow Kiwi golfer Danny Lee couldn’t do the same.

Fox produced a strong finish to the European Tour’s Irish Open in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, yesterday. He ended tied for fourth, seven shots back from Spanish winner Jon Rahm, who shot a 24-under par total of 264.

The 30-year-old Fox hit five birdies in his final round fourunder par 68 to jump up from his overnight spot of sixth at the Portstewart Golf Club.

Fox was able to nab one of three qualifying spots for the third major of the year, the British Open, which will be contested at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England, over July 20-23. He joins Michael Hendry as one of two New Zealanders in the field.

‘‘I’m ecstatic - third time lucky. I just missed out last week in France, and I missed out on world rankings at the Australian Open at the start of The Open qualifying series, so I’m very, very happy to get the job done this week,’’ Fox said.

‘‘It was a great golf course this week and a lot of fun to play. I’m sure Birkdale might play a bit tougher than what we’ve got this week. I haven’t played a lot of links golf in my career, I managed to play an Open at St Andrews a couple of years ago and I loved the experience of playing links golf. I’m looking forward to the opportunity again.’’

Lee, who was the defending champion from two years ago, finished tied for ninth at the PGA Tour’s Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia, five shots back from American winner Xander Schauffele.

The event was not held last year due to a devastating flash flood, which swept through West Virginia and caused extensive damage to the course that was deemed beyond reasonable repair to contest the tournament.

Lee has one final chance to qualify for The Open at this week’s John Deere Classic in Illinois.

After an outstanding six-under par start on Friday, Lee faded with a one-under par final round to finish nine-under for the tournament.

Schauffele took out his first PGA Tour title, shooting a threeunder par final round to edge compatriot Robert Streb by a shot.

Following an even third round of 70 on Sunday, Lee dropped down the leaderboard having sat tied for fourth after the opening two rounds.

Lee bogeyed two of his first five holes in the final round, but regained his composure to birdie the ninth.

He birdied holes 11 and 17, while achieving par on the other seven holes on the back nine.

Lee hit 11 of 14 fairways in his final round and 12 of 18 greens in regulation.