How Ryan Fox's Open Championship Victory Ended A Majorless Win Streak For These Two Types Of Clubs
The New Zealander's win at Royal Birkdale meant a first Major win for a blade putter since 2024, as well as the first for a Srixon driver in over three years
Ryan Fox secured the Claret Jug in a thrilling finale on Sunday, with a final hole birdie handing him the title by a single stroke.
It was an impressive performance from the New Zealander who, prior to the start of the championship, made some notable changes to his equipment, introducing a new driver, fairway wood and utility iron to the set-up.
In fact, the victory for Fox ended a men's Major winless run for a specific manufacturer, as well as a specific-type of putter, bucking the recent trend within the professional game...
Using a Srixon ZXi RKT LS+, it was the first men's Major win for the brand in the driver department since Brooks Koepka's triumph at the PGA Championship in 2023.
That championship, the American was using a Srixon ZX5 LS Mk II. It was Srixon's fourth Major driver triumph since The Open Championship in 2019, as Shane Lowry used the Z 585 at Royal Portrush and Hideki Matsuyama the ZX5 to win The Masters in 2021.
For Fox, the move to the ZXi RKT LS+ came just weeks before he won at Royal Portrush, with Srixon introducing the ZXi RKT to its staffers at the Travelers Championship the month before.
Along with the change of driver head, the 39-year-old also changed his driver shaft, as he moved out of a Mitsubishi Diamana and into a Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X.
Because of the changes, Fox ranked 14th in Strokes Gained: Driving for the week, as he averaged 313.9 yards off the tee, hitting 57.1% of his fairways.
Mentioning golf shafts, an interesting point is that Fox's putter actually featured a KBS C-Taper 130 Black PVD 8-iron shaft, which measures at 40 inches.
Because Fox has an armlock-style putting action, the extra length helps the grip sit on his forearm, with the method helping him to make some crucial putts going down the stretch in Southport.
At the beginning of the week, much was made around Cameron Smith moving into a mallet-style putter having used a blade flatstick for the entirety of his professional career.
However, on Sunday, Fox showed that blade-style putters aren't going out of fashion just yet, registering a first men's Major win for that type of model since Bryson DeChambeau at the 2024 US Open.
DeChambeau was the last male golfer to win a Major using a blade-style putter
Wielding a Ping Anser 2.0, it's the only non-Srixon or Cleveland club in Fox's bag, enabling him to top the Putts Holed Distance standings for the week with a whopping 458.3-feet.
Such was his dominance on the greens, Fox also led the field in SG: Putting, gaining 8.755 shots on the field. He was 2.2 shots clear of Nick Taylor in second, who gained 6.594 shots with the putter.
As mentioned, the win is the first Major for a blade putter since DeChambeau used a SIK Pro C-Series Armlock at Pinehurst No.2.
It now also means blade putters have been part of three Major wins across the men's and women's game in 2026, as Nelly Korda utilized a TaylorMade NK Proto blade for both her Chevron Championship and US Women's Open wins.
