Given the chaos that transpired at Royal Birkdale from late Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, it only felt right to record an instant reaction podcast to the 2026 Open Championship.
That’s exactly what myself, Stephen Hennessey and Alex Myers did on Sunday afternoon, joining forces to record this week’s episode of The Loop immediately after Ryan Fox’s final putt dropped.
Where to even begin? Well, for starters, why had to heap praise on Fox, who speed ran his way through the back nine en route to the biggest victory of his career. The man with zero major top-15 finishes in his entire career is now the owner of the claret jug. Storybook stuff.
Of course, we also delved into the controversial Scottie Scheffler ruling at the 17th hole, which would have been a hell of a lot more controversial had Scheffler managed to birdie the 18th. The R&A, which had itself an interesting week, to say the least, was likely relieved he didn’t.
That nearly set the stage for a Fox vs. Cameron Young playoff, but Fox’s clutch drive, approach and putt on the 72nd hole ended things in regulation. We discuss how NBC covered that moment, and how NBC handled the whole week, in the episode below. Plus, BrysonGate, naturally. Please, have a listen, and like and subscribe to The Loop wherever you get your podcasts:
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
