New Zealand's Ryan Fox has zoomed up the world's golf rankings after his Open Championship victory, while his qualifying worries for big tournaments disappear with generous exemptions to the sport's major tournaments.Fox won the Open at Royal Birkdale on Monday by one stroke, joining Sir Bob Charles, who won the Open in 1963, Michael Campbell and Dame Lydia Ko as the only New Zealanders to have won a golf major. Ko has won three.Ryan Fox kisses the Claret Jug after winning the British Open.AFPFox's brilliant performance earned him the Claret Jug, which he holds for a year, and a prize of NZ$5.47 million, although the British tax system is likely to take a sizeable chunk of that.It also sets him to contest even bigger paydays on the United States and European tours.In the official world golf rankings released on Tuesday, Fox has climbed from 56th to 22nd, while on the PGA Tour he moves from 59th to 21st, putting him well in the reckoning for the FedEx Cup playoffs, which culminate with the Tour Championship in late August. The top 30 players after the playoffs compete for a purse of NZ$68.4 million, with the winner earning $17m.The next qualifying tournament is the 3M in Minnesota this weekend, but Fox has withdrawn from that after his Open win. It is common for winners of majors to take the next event off.On the DP World Tour, formerly the European Tour, Fox has moved into fifth place, a prime position as golfers try to make the field for the season-ending Race to Dubai finale, with a bonus purse of $17 million also up for grabs.Fox, 39, gets an exemption to play in the Open until he is 55 and he doesn't have to qualify to play in the other three majors - the Masters, PGA Championship and US Open - for five years, keeping a PGA Tour card for that time also.Looking further, he also gets exemptions for the Seniors events once he turns 50.The new Champion golfer of the year, who has a no-nonsense quick approach around the golf course, is also likely to find product endorsement offers coming his way.In the aftermath of his Open win, Fox commented on his late progression age-wise in the sport."I was a rookie on the DP World Tour at 30. I was a rookie on the PGA Tour at 37 and now a major champion at 39."I'm definitely not following the trend at the moment. But if I can keep getting better a little bit every year, I'll be pretty happy."