The 2026 British Open had a little bit of everything and on Sunday it concluded with a dramatic birdie putt on the final hole by player who had never before finished in the top 10 at a major championship. Ryan Fox, a 39-year-old from New Zealand, is this year’s Open champion after making an 11-footer for birdie on the par-4 18th. Fox, a PGA Tour veteran, played in Sunday’s final group with Sam Burns. He stepped to the 18th tee tied with Cameron Young for the lead. He then blasted his drive down the middle of the fairway, hit his approach shot just below the hole and drained the life-changing putt to give him a one-shot victory over Young.Let’s take a look at the winners and losers from a bonkers British Open. Winner: Ryan Fox stuns at Royal BirkdaleFox opened the championship with a two-over 72 in Thursday’s first round. Then he started to get hot with a two-under 68 on Friday to make the cut by a shot. Then he got really hot with an eight-under 62 on Saturday. Fox never let the pressure get to him on Sunday. Instead, he thrived down the stretch by making four birdies over his last six holes. It’s just a shocking win for Fox and the way he did it was all sorts of impressive.— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) July 19, 2026Loser: Bryson DeChambeau flames outBy now we all know about the two-shot penalty DeChambeau got after Friday’s second round, which dropped him from second to fifth place. He bounced back Saturday with an impressive one-under 69. But on Sunday he fell apart and saw his chances of winning come to an end with an ugly triple bogey on the par-4 11th hole. He finished with a two-over 72, which put him at T14 for the championship.DeChambeau didn’t speak with the media all week, so fans had no clue how he was feeling about everything, which isn’t ideal, especially at a major championship. His behavior during the whole penalty process wasn’t great and then he made things even worse when he threatened to quit after Friday’s round. He could have handled everything a lot better, instead he went about things in the worst way possible and now he’s off to go play in whatever LIV Golf events are left on the schedule. The only good news for DeChambeau is that he avoided missing the cut at all four majors this year. So he has that going for him, which is nice. Loser: Scottie Scheffler fails to win a major this yearThe No. 1 player in the world didn’t win the British Open but he finally made some putts on Sunday and gave himself a bit of a chance with a wild birdie on 17. He then closed with a bogey on the final hole and finished the championship at seven-under.His birdie on 17 came after he lost his mind while watching his tee shot get caught up in the left rough:— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) July 19, 2026And then he got lucky by getting a free drop after his dreadful second shot:After all that, Scottie Scheffler birdies the 17th and is one back of the clubhouse lead. 👀 pic.twitter.com/Et1pCLvwmH— GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) July 19, 2026Scheffler will be left to wonder what could have been if he just made a few putts in Saturday’s third round. His best showing at a major this year came at the Masters where he finished in second behind Rory McIlroy. He finished T22 at the PGA Championship, T4 at the U.S. Open and T4 at the British Open.Losers: Wyndham Clark and Matt Fitzpatrick A lot was expected from both Clark, who won the U.S. Open last month, and Fitzpatrick, who is the No. 3-ranked player in the world and has won three times on the PGA Tour this year, but they both missed the cut and watched from home over the weekend.Winner: Rory McIlroy’s brutally honest words about Bryson DeChambeau were so refreshingDeChambeau’s two-shot penalty led to lots of reactions from other players. The best came from McIlroy, who didn’t hold back at all on one of his rivals.“I won’t pretend to be up here and defend Bryson. I’m not particularly fond of him. I think a lot of it’s performative,” McIlroy said. “I think a lot of it’s for attention. To hold the tournament hostage like that, and to have all of us players, volunteers, everyone waiting on him to depart, I didn’t feel like it was a great look.”He added: “I think there’s no doubt that he improved the line of his backswing,” McIlroy said. “And again, whether it was careless or whether it was intentional, I don’t think it matters. Hopefully it was careless, but I think the two-shot penalty was justified for sure.”In a world in which pro athletes often shy away from saying how they truly feel about a hot topic, McIlroy’s honesty was a breath of fresh air. Loser: NBC’s coverageNBC’s coverage of the event was another rough watch for most of the week. Kevin Kisner whiffed Saturday on his take about DeChambeau’s penalty. Brad Faxon had a weird line about Scheffler and DeChambeau, and there were just so many commercials. On top of all that, the Playing Through breaks led to some rough moments for people watching from home. NBC in Playing Through for Bryson's arrival to the first tee with no audio. Just cannot make it up.— No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) July 18, 2026Winner: Tommy Fleetwood Fleetwood was hoping to get a win in his hometown and while he didn’t get it done, he had some great moments all week long that had his throngs of fans going nuts at Royal Birkdale. He closed with a two-under 68 on Sunday and finished in tied for fourth and had this nice moment while walking up the 18th fairway:A special moment walking up the 18th at Royal Birkdale in The 154th Open for Southport's own @TommyFleetwood1. pic.twitter.com/O4Usmpol2v— The Open (@TheOpen) July 19, 2026What a fun week of golf that was. And what a wild finish.More Golf from Sports IllustratedAdd us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow