While it may not measure up to Nick Taylor’s nation-shaking putt to win the RBC Canadian Open two years ago, Ryan Fox put his own dramatic twist on the event Sunday with a brilliant second shot on the fourth playoff hole to finally subdue Sam Burns.
Having already made a 17-foot putt on the 72nd hole to force a playoff, Fox – after the two players traded three pars on the par-5 18th hole in the playoff – seized the moment by hitting his long second shot over a pond to inside 10 feet, setting up a two-putt birdie to win.
"To be honest, Sam and I had a bit of a pillow fight there for three holes. It was some pretty average golf from both of us, some average putting. But that shot I hit on 18 with the 3-wood was probably the best shot I ever hit."
Ryan Fox
Burns, the tour’s top-ranked putter who shot 62 on Sunday to rush to the top of the leaderboard, missed a chance to win on the first extra hole when he could not convert a 5-foot birdie putt and he three-putted the fourth playoff hole, allowing Fox to two-putt from short range for the win.
“It was tough. I hit some great shots down the stretch in regulation. Probably got a little lucky on that putt on 18 in regulation, snuck in the left door,” said Fox, who shot 66 Sunday and finished tied with Burns at 18-under-par 262 at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley.
“To be honest, Sam and I had a bit of a pillow fight there for three holes. It was some pretty average golf from both of us, some average putting. But that shot I hit on 18 with the 3-wood was probably the best shot I ever hit. It would have been nice to make it, but hey, I’ll take it.”
For Fox, it was his second PGA Tour victory in less than two months. In May, Fox chipped in on the first extra hole to win the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic, his maiden victory on the circuit.
It was another excruciatingly close miss for Cameron Young, who is still chasing his first PGA Tour victory. Young arrived at the par-5 18th hole needing a birdie to tie Burns but ripped his second shot long, into heavy rough over the green.
From there, Young chunked his first pitch shot and wound up making a bogey on the finishing hole to finish tied for fourth.
“This very moment, a lot of anger, a bit of frustration,” Young said immediately after his closing bogey. “I couldn’t have hit two better shots on the last hole. I don’t hit 3-wood that far, and it’s blowing straight into the wind, and it decided to bounce all the way to the back woods.
“I thought in the air I was going to have about a 12-footer to win the tournament, and it ended up somewhere I was going to struggle to make par, let alone make a 4. Pretty upset. Played pretty well. Kind of just want to go home right now.”
Kevin Yu, Matt McCarty and Young qualified for the Open Championship at Royal Portrush through the RBC Canadian Open. Yu finished third at 17-under, one stroke ahead of McCarty and Young.
Ron Green Jr.