Ryan Fox surges past European Ryder Cup players to win PGA Championship
Ludvig Åberg displayed his fallibility, Rory McIlroy charged and Tyrrell Hatton looked set to hand Luke Donald’s European team a huge Ryder Cup boost. Instead, it was Ryan Fox who prevailed at the PGA Championship after a spectacular closing 13 holes at Wentworth.
Åberg, who started the final round with a two-shot lead, slumped to a 76. It appeared pressure on the 23-year-old, who secured a Ryder Cup berth despite turning professional only in June, finally told.
The Swede’s struggles opened up the tournament; McIlroy’s 65 moved him to 13 under par. That proved five shy of Fox, who was three over after five holes of his final round. The New Zealander played the next stretch in eight under par to take the trophy by one from Hatton and Aaron Rai.
Fox’s emotional wife and children looked on. “We have been through a pretty tough year as a family,” the champion said. “We lost my father-in-law in June after a really, really short battle with cancer and that kind of rocked the family. It’s been tough going back and forth [to New Zealand]. To come over here and have a good week in Ireland last week, and now this, I don’t think I could have wished for better. To have everyone here, including little Margot who is four months old, is very, very special.
“I felt surprisingly calm and in control the whole day. It’s just cool to be in that situation and actually pull it off.”
For so long, this looked like Hatton’s tournament. He played the front nine in 31 and birdied the 10th and 11th to establish a lead. A dropped shot at the 15th proved fatal; he signed for a 66 but cut a rueful figure.
“I definitely have mixed emotions,” he said. “It was nice to have a great week before, and now to get ready for the Ryder Cup. So I take some confidence from that. I am really excited to be part of Team Europe.”
So, too, is McIlroy. He had flirted with the cut on Friday but secured a top-10 finish. “If I had gone home from here on Friday night, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to feel better about my game,” he said.
“I think what I did well over the weekend was knowing if I was going to miss it, I was going to miss it in the right spot. I managed my game better but it would be nice to go to Rome without those misses.”